Dystopia Nå! – Syklus (2011)

Presenting their first full-length release “Syklus”, today we have Dystopia Nå!. In this very interesting release, the band mixes influences of Doom Metal, Shoegaze and Black Metal to create a very unique and excellent sounding album. For eight tracks the band will surely grab your attention whether you like doom-ish distorted guitars, Black Metal assaults, or beautiful Shoegaze passages that will hyptonize you.

Immediately after the mood setting (and momentum gainer) “Vemod”, the band delivers “Piller”, a very diverse song that shows a hefty amount of Doom Metal influences. After some BM assaults, the song nicely transforms around the 4 minute mark to a full-on Doom Metal tuned down guitar opus. However, just before finishing we have another BM onslaught and some very cool ‘alarm clock’ like sample allowing the listener to wake up from the hypnotic trance of this song.

Whipping out the emotional clean vocals, “God morgen, dystopia” nicely continues the overall mood of the album. In this song the guitars and overall song structure is more of a Rock song than a Metal one, but there are elements here and there that keep the dreaminess of the band’s sound going in a majestic way. Using a more straight forward approach “I metropolens favn” delivers powerful riffing and a nice strong pace to keep things flowing in anticipation of the best song of the album “Neon”. In “Neon” the band borrows some of the etherealness of Alcest and creates a very magical and emotional track using clean guitars and piano section. Adding on top of these elements some Shoegaze influences and we have a very solid song that features a few surprises as well.

After the atmospheric passage “Kollaps”, the band splits into two movements the last song of the album “Barn av Lerret”. The first section is a bit rustic and very harsh in some parts; this makes a very interesting contrast and changes the pace of the album dramatically for a while. The second section delivers more ethereal atmospherics in a very pleasing manner. While the harsh vocals are present, the overall melody is very well crafted allowing. The album couldn’t have ended in a better way, since this track features many of the elements that made this release excellent.

If you are looking for something very experimental and beyond the regular confines of Black/Doom Metal, “Syklus” is the release for you. The band’s three members make sure that this release is packed with experimental sections and well crafted aggressive parts. There is not a single song that feels week in this very diverse and yet cohesive release. Being their first full-length, we can’t wait to hear what Dystopia Nå! comes up with for their sophomore release.

Release: November 15th, 2011

Country: Norway