Texan black metal fiends
Dagon attempt to make up for the fact they live in sweltering Dallas instead of frosty Bergen, Norway by conjuring up some of the vilest, nastiest, sloppiest, most inhuman black metal incantations conceivable for their second full-length release, 2008's
In Desolationem Per Nefandum. If anything, it represents a new high or low (depending on your stance on this genre's "less is more" aesthetic) for the nefarious duo of vocalist/guitarist Rhaxiil and drummer Antinom in this regard, because the very real possibility that they are actually capable of creating varied and complex songs is summarily buried underneath the intentionally lo-fi production, unrehearsed execution, and oftentimes hilarious vocals contained herein. Sure, veteran extreme metal ears, finely attuned to the sonic quandaries involved in this perverse form of musical anti-art, will recognize those qualities easily enough. But for others (i.e., most humans), only the meticulously wrought hermeticism of
Dagon's lyrics and song titles like "The Kings of Malice Return to their Rightful Place," "Vestiments of Servitude and Devotion," and (big breath) "Mind Born Sons of the Sacred Radiance -- The Adoration and Conjuration of the Shining Seven" even hint at the possibility of secret sophistication. As it stands, the close-to-impenetrable crust of sonic grime surrounding
Dagon's music makes further discussions of their merits or demerits a highly subjective exercise. All that can be asserted is that 99.9 percent of the Earth's population won't get it and will hate it (guaranteed!), but that, as some small consolation, all 100 percent will realize that the members of
Dagon most definitely mean business!