Review by Mandeep Arora on April 17, 2024.

I love Dissection. Always have. They were the most influential in pushing me into the endless pandemonium of extreme metal music during my formative metalhead years. While it may have been the majestic and much more lauded Storm Of The Light’s Bane that led me on this path of utter chaos and darkness, the moment I laid my eyes on the deeply evocative and mysterious cover of The Somberlain, I felt sucked into its black canopy of endless evil and beauty. The title track, despite its evil dispositions, seemed to gently grab my hand and take me on a transcendental journey beyond the living, a place of immense rest and rather odd tranquility where I witnessed a gradual numbing of my senses as if darkness was slowly and gently consuming me in its comforting grasp... That exotic melodic intro resounding in my ears, followed by complete black metal chaos and resorting, again, to a soothing and hypnotising melodic effect with expressive undertones had a striking effect on my impressionable mind. That moment onwards, there was no looking back...

But even before this hauntingly beautiful and mesmerising song, there's another equally spectacular one in 'Black Horizons', the album opener. Replete with its dark and forbidding intro signalling the foreboding doom and then opening into a wide expanse of some of the most exquisite guitar melodies I've listened to, it's one of the finest songs composed in all of metal - the magic starts at the four-minute mark when that short acoustic passage, very flush-fitting and beautifully wrought, surfaces and leads to the elongated instrumental section, where the intertwined riffs and melodies sound ethereal and cocoon you in their hypnotising effect, your suppressed senses not wanting this beautiful harmony to ever end. Dissection has always been praised to have some of the most unique and beautiful guitar melodies but another aspect where they're in their own elite league is the acoustic passages, some of the smoothest to behold and very elemental to mood shifts within a song's setting. The softer and acoustic parts are pressed on even further on the short little instrumental numbers in between the longer and main songs, serving good respite from the chaos and expanding on the mysterious tendencies of the album.

The guitars are dark and quite sinister in their tone, but equally beautiful. They are, of course, the most dominant element in the sound, deploying hammering black metal riffs to usher in unfettered chaos and momentarily slowing down to a doom metal style of pace, as observed on the closing sections of 'A Land Forlorn' and 'In the Cold Winds of Nowhere'. Not only do these somber sections sound sublime, they also evoke a certain dread within, a feeling that's both warm and dark in its nature. What exacerbates that is the bass, surprisingly clearly audible on an album such as this. The production’s a bit muddy but the basslines are sonorous and clear-cut, bestowing a distinctively melancholic aura to the album's undertones and sounding absolutely appealing in the most relevant sections. It's such a pleasure that despite all the distortion and the wall of sound effect, they managed to emphasise the bass and made it an important part of the sound. The drums are equally fun to witness. I'm personally not a big fan of the snare sound and the drumming style, I think, cannot be labelled as black metal's tighest or most exotic, but the relatively easygoing attitude means there's an odd charm to moments of frenzy when Ole Öhman decides to give it his all and confers some neat, fast and unique drum fills; the judicious use of double bass is very appealing, too.

What strikes me as this album's finest characteristic is how effortless it feels in its execution of evil; I still enjoy a good amount of Norwegian black metal but even I'll admit that it tries a bit too much to be acknowledged as evil and sometimes comes across as rather cheesy and hilarious in that pursuit. Not the case with Dissection. The unmistakable evil they achieve in their music feels totally natural and effortless, as if the band members were born for this and their instruments were possessed with a dark, black aura when recording this album. It's definitely one of the darkest albums I've listened to that's right up there with early Bathory or Mercyful Fate or Slayer's "Hell Awaits" as paragons of simple and natural evil. The lyrics are in a similar vein, capturing the darker themes and a nod to the pretentious nineties movement of satan and evil worship, though this isn't made super-obvious in the writing style. However, the likes of 'Black Horizons', 'The Somberlain', 'In The Cold Winds Of Nowhere' and 'Mistress Of The Bleeding Sorrow' are actually beautifully written and rather poetic in their nature; celebration of death or mourning a dead spouse is kind of reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works and this, at times, actually seems like the ideal album for him to listen to if black metal was a thing in the 1800s.

To think that Jon Nödtveidt was only 18 at the time of this album's release beggars belief. Yes, he had some very talented musicians surrounding him as part of this band and together they were able to achieve a sound that's unique and distinctive but there's no denying that Nödtveidt was the principal force behind the band's direction. One can disagree with his beliefs and opinions on certain things or maybe even disdain him for his actions but there's no taking away the sheer musical depth he possessed; his knack for such a style of music gave us two of the best black metal albums of all time, albums that in a way gave birth to a new genre of black metal altogether. His extreme metal vocals are some of the coolest and wickedest too, this side of David Vincent, almost as if the devil himself has taken possession of the microphone. Oddly enough, I come pretty close to his vocal style in my bathroom singing sessions where I recalcitrantly shred air guitars and go haywire in thrashing imaginary snares. I was so obsessed with this album at one point that I remembered nearly every lyrical bit, every guitar note, every drum fill and all the delightful basslines. Still do.

All these years and I still don't know what that name The Somberlain exactly means; my best guess is that it's a weird wordplay of "somber" and "lane", apparently embodying a solo quest on an uninhabited path or something of the sort, but my guess is as good as anyone's. What I surprisingly, and importantly, realised as of this writing is that this album just turned 30! Goodness me, it wasn't even 25 when I first discovered it. Where the hell's time flying to? But even all these seemingly fleeting years cannot blemish its rock-solid credibility. Just like what it was then, a far superior record than anything that took inspiration from it or sounded remotely close, it still reigns triumphant over all of modern meloblack metal. Popularity polls may often have Storm Of The Light’s Bane overshadow it as the definitive melodic black metal sound and there's some truth to that, but the sheer beauty and unhinged darkness on The Somberlain remains unparalleled. I think SOtLB is the better overall album but The Somberlain has better individual songs. For all its beauty, it remains formidable nonetheless but once you give in to the enveloping limitless darkness, there's no coming back.

Recommendations: 'Black Horizons', 'The Somberlain', 'A Land Forlorn', 'In The Cold Winds Of Nowhere' and 'Mistress Of The Bleeding Sorrow', as well as the sweet little instrumental tunes. Truly fantastic and mesmerising songs.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

Review by Felix on July 25, 2019.

No doubt, the world has seen a lot of sick minds - and Jon Nödtveidt belonged to the prime examples of this species. Usually, I put a "R.I.P." behind the name of a dead musician, but I am not quite sure whether Nödtveidt ever wanted to rest in peace. Guess he was just seeking another cosmos where he could bring his entire destructive energy to life. I do not know exactly whether he has found this place, but I am sure that his music is still relevant for legions of metal fans and, even more remarkable, thousands of genre musicians. Dissection have left a highly influential legacy which consists of two parts, The Somberlain and Storm of the Light's Bane. The rest is not worth mentioning, at least from my point of view. Therefore, I am happy that this review deals with the debut of the Swedish legend. 

Honestly, I am not totally convinced of The Somberlain. It is no perfect album. Nevertheless, it holds some more or less perfect songs. The epic double strike at the beginning boasts with ingenious designs, fantastic sections full of fury, great melodies and a massive dose of flawlessly integrated breaks and tempo changes. The falsetto of King Quartz is missing, but the atmosphere of the songs matches the artwork which lies in close proximity to that of "Abigail". "Hey coachman, which road do you take?" - "Dear guest, this route will lead us directly into everlasting perdition." - "Thanks a lot, I just wanted to know it."

But neither "Black Horizons" nor the title track marks the absolute climax. Well-hidden on the eighth position, "In the Cold Winds of Nowhere" sends shivers down my spine and a layer of ice covers my skin immediately. Immortal have written some great and icy tracks, but even if Demonaz stays overnight in his top performance fridge, he will not achieve the level of coldness that these winds create. By far not. The main riffing seems to be the melting pot of all Dissection-compatible feelings. It expresses stress, desperation, mercilessness and negativity in abundance. Furthermore, it illustrates the murderously effective guitar sound of the album and the speedy instrumental part adds a strict and straight component to the song. Although this classic is more compact than its big brothers at the beginning of the running order, it evokes the same massive amount of emotions and becomes a blessing and a curse at the same time. The remaining tracks stand in its shadow. And I am talking about the regular tracks, not about the pretty useless instrumental, acoustic guitar intermezzos.

The regular songs show really good facets of pretty melodic death / black metal, but they fail to score with ingenious elements. The tempo changes work and give the whole album a dynamic touch. Nobody can deny that the young Nödtveidt and his co-authors had admirable compositional skills. Therefore, the guitars create interesting, atmospheric riffs in abundance, but the somewhat complicated songs lack accessibility, at least to a certain degree. In comparison with its successor, it gets clear that Dissection had (minimal) difficulties to come directly to the point at this stage of their career. I do not ask for less complex song structures, but Storm of the Light's Bane shines with a higher effectiveness. Anyway, in order to bring this review to a correct end, I must say that the well, but not superb produced The Somberlain is a really strong album and its impact is still being felt. You say I am too critical? Well, maybe I also belong to the sick minds I have mentioned in the first paragraph.

Rating: 8.3 out of 10

Review by Luka on May 26, 2001.

Yes, Dissection were always different. Credited as having as much impact on the Norwegian black metal scene as Emperor or Mayhem, yet hailing from Sweden, the Dissection debut is one of the best I’ve ever heard.

Jon Nodtveidt and the boys show true talent for writing long, progressive and melodic songs that sound thoroughly "evil". That’s the only word I can use to describe it. The intro to "The Grief Prophecy..." is simply the most "evil" music I’ve ever heard. Beautiful in a dark way. There’s the “evil” melody and then there’s the sad, beautiful type, like "The Somberlain" intro or the ending to "A Land Forlorn". Absolute beauty, no words can describe it.

Though the guys certainly have -tons- of talent and inspiration, the same can’t be said for their budget. The drum snare sounds like a hollow metal can, which really kills the evil and sinister mood they’re trying to create and the playing isn’t very tight either. It sounds like it was recorded in some small garage, which, I suppose might actually do -more- for the evil mood, but not for me. They could have made this album much better if they’d spend more time in the studio and had better production, but true talent can’t be hidden by lousy recording.

It’s very hard to brand Dissection. It’s "Swedish death metal" to those who are familiar with the similar "Gothenburg" sound of bands like At the Gates and the like, but Dissection have been influenced too much by Norwegian black metal to be called "death". Jon’s previous band, "The Black", is pure black metal and the vocals here are also the traditional rasp. It matters little anyway, I call them "Swedish black metal", "Swedish" for melodic, since all the masters of melody hail from this country; At the Gates; In Flames; Opeth...

Bottom Line: A must for any fan of black, death, or melodic metal. Phenomenal debut!

Rating: 9 out of 10