DECALOGUE OF DARKNESS

While it is frowned on to pass judgement on a album after a single listen, when an album is either amazing or awful it does not require too many repeated plays, and unfortunately Decalogue Of Darkness falls into the latter. DAAL have been one of those highly rated bands that I often saw mentioned but never got around to checking out. Given the hype around this album in particular I knew I eventually needed to give them a fair listen.

I can get where the high ratings are coming from, as it fits directly into the mellotron-heavy, vintage Prog that has been very successful for bands such as Wobbler and the All Traps On Earth. However, what this instrumental album severely lacks that the others possess is variety, not just within tracks but between them as well. I can understand why each song has almost the same title as there is so little to distinguish each one from another!

The entire album is mostly mid-tempo, dark but nothing sinister and is driven primarily by the mellotron and piano. There are some more intense secions but nothing I have not heard before. I am struggling to find anything that is really original on this album, it often sounds like the soundtrack to Epitaph on King Crimson's 1969 debut, with a lot of recycled themes that have been done better from many other bands. The only slight exception was Chapter VII which had a pleasant space-rock middle part and was the only highlight and song I can remember from the entire 70 minute album.

There is little else that can be said about the album really, other than it is well produced, makes for decent background music and worth getting if you like your tracks submerged in mellotron. As the album is 100 % Prog I will give it a 2 star rating for this site, but that is the highest rating I can give for this overhyped album. If you want a mellotron-heavy, mostly instrumental masterpiece then I would strongly recommend the recently released A Drop Of Light from All Traps On Earth, which totally outclasses this album. The main reason being is that they have clear changes in composition structure to maintain your attention, and that they go well beyond the vintage-prog sound by adding Magma influences and Avant-Prog unpredictability into their sound. Decalogue of Darkness is very one-note in comparison and to be honest is one of the most boring Prog albums I have ever heard. I was fed up after only 10 minutes of listening, and had to push myself to get through it all.

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