Dust is Everywhere

Dust is Everywhere. D.I.E. Get it?

[cough] Anyway… it could be worse. Ask their labelmates, Rumplestiltskin Grinder. D.I.E. is a band in the black metal ilk, somewhat on the amateurish side, Attics and Catacombs provides a look into the deep, dark recesses of um, Havertown, Pennsylvania - pop: 36,711. Featuring the musical stylings of “Dust” on “Chains, Shackles and Screams” and “Old” on “Bones”.

I’m going to take a shot in the dark and guess that these two guys got their asses kicked in school on a daily basis and this album is their revenge. So, name aside and cartoonish (buffoonish) image aside, Attics and Catacombs is a surprisingly good album. The music is strong, sharp blackness and the vocals are suitably hellish and reminiscent of Emperor’s Ihsahn. This adds up to an unfortunate situation because the black metal purists don’t have a tolerance for their music being played with less-than-full-sincerity.

D.I.E. might be sincere but the name, the song titles like “Horrid Places” and “Born in the Basement” are going to make it difficult for anyone to take them seriously. They very clearly get inspiration in both sound and presentation from King Diamond but they’ve obviously lost sight of the fact that now, in 2008, King Diamond is barely able to maintain the respect once given, with everyone else treated with about as much seriousness as Dethklok, who even with an obvious love and reverence towards the genre are nothing more than a cartoon.

7.4 / 10 — Kevin Fitzpatrick