The Dutch project Delirium Tremenss delivers a 4-track EP of genre-bending psychedelic dark rock and metal. The style is hard to describe, but let's try and dive into it.
The EP opens up with "Delirium Tremenss" which jumps straight into a riff of occultistic sounding, even theatrical like lo-fi synth organ. After some time, a full band of drums, guitars, and bass joins in in a similar kind of lo-fi dark rock action. In my opinion the sounds of the instruments leave a little to be desired, but overall they work together and create a soundscape that one doesn't come across every day in the huge and wide-scale world of rock and metal. It kind of reminds me (especially the synths) of Nintendo 64 soundfont, for which I just have to give a little plus.
As second comes the track "Amphetaminess" which again starts with an organ riff. Once the band joins in the volume levels pop up quite a bit, even disturbingly so - mixing and/or mastering could probably have been done better here. Otherwise the track follows the road that the first track led the listener into in fairly similar steps, but this time there are vocals (hardcore / black metal screaming like) included too.
The last two tracks "Sleep is for the weak..." and "Tragedy of Ideologies" offer the listener around 6 minutes more of kindred synth and guitar riffing, the former being more slower, including hints of what is doom and stoner, and the latter being more towards hardcore. However, despite the EP's focus being on heavy riffs, my favorite moment of the EP might just be the beginning of "Sleep is for the weak..." with its not-so-heavy drum-lead guitar-background synth part. I guess a big role here is in the presence of the drums - which are more on top and sound more powerful and punchy in the mix than in the rest of the track(s).
Overall the 4-track EP offers a bit over 14 minutes mix of difficult-to-describe melodic, psychedelic dark rock and metal. The most defining factor of the EP is the union of synth and guitar riffs brought together in a harsh lo-fi mix. Due to the last mentioned matter, this EP definitely isn't for everybody, but I could recommend it as a snack for fans of experimental darker rock, hardcore and maybe even for those black metal fans who enjoy their kvlt recorded with an old Nokia phone and are looking for something a bit different than sawing tremolo riffs for a change. Also, if you're curious about how Nintendo 64-era video game music would work as original metal tracks, this could be something like it.
Favorite track: Sleep is for the weak...
Rating: 3/5
- Bat
Tracklist:
Delirium Tremenss
Amphetaminess
Sleep is for the weak...
Tragedy of Ideologies
Delirium Tremenss / the EP on Bandcamp:
https://dutchoccultstudio.bandcamp.com/album/do-drugs-hate-your-local-government