Dagoba: Post Mortem Nihil Est

You bastard, Seth Siro Anton, you make me listen to albums merely because of the cover art.

Dagoba's Post Mortem Nihil Est is another conjuring of a concept album in the style of Fear Factory's Mechanize. The comparison seems an even fit, too, given both bands' prevailing statuses in the genre. Dagoba echo the ilk of Sybreed with less synth and more grit aboard their 2013 effort. Previous entries see the band flirting with concepts on Face the Colossus and the ocean-faring Poseidon, but Dagoba's interests had been tuned towards a more philosophical direction with the numerologist's nightmare of the Mayan apocalypse. We all knew nothing was going to happen, and Dagoba had something to say about it.

The songs are an overwhelming assault from the rippling piano introduction on When Winter... to the closing blast beat of By the Sword. They aren't strangers to using samples, symphonic sections and keyboards to accentuate their brand of metal, highlighted in the wide-eyed catharsis of Yes We Die and Oblivion is For the Living. The very grim Western wasteland of Nevada is, without further description, a miniature epic. They don't bother to be beautiful with these intricacies as much as they want to be dramatic, which works out in their favor given the brutal content of the record.

Most of the lyrical content contends with purgatory, extinction and the reality of death. The subject matter has been explored before in the genre, yet Dagoba's sincere attention paid to their version of the end time creates a very specific drama that functions well enough to avoid the pitfall of being too "doom." Keyboard/vocalist Shawter doesn't have many ranges of vocals, which to some may feel awkward when he sings his quasi-Soilwork interludes.

4/5, been spinning it regularly since it came out a few weeks ago and the content is very well performed.

tl;dr: this is for you if you enjoy Fear Factory injected with samples, Sybreed, or aggressive industrial metal.



P.S., they look like they belong on an episode of Cops! Download the album here.

yeahbub

You bastard. You BASTARD. You hacked into everything! You happy Nappa, I'LL BREAK YOU DEAD.

But seriously, is this album good?

Why the fuck are you asking me? You can't figure it out for yourself?

No, for I am the burned and died. Taxer said so.