Review by Wiley on June 26, 2009.

While I have always been one to promote expanding sound and pushing genre boundaries, sometimes I wonder if the details of songwriting are lost by those that undertake such endeavors. This is the crux of Damned Spirits' Dance's latest release - "Weird Constellation".

I very much enjoy the fact they dont mind walking around staying within one genre or another by adding frequency travelling synth atmospheres, circus-esque vocals, and dense melody lines to their basis of Dimmu Borgir/Cradle Of Filth blackened metal. They even pepper the tunes with breaks of Pestilence-Sphere's era dissonance, and samples placed amongst the more open ended riffs and buildups. However, with all these nice seasonings, on top of some well done playing, I cannot overlook the glaring rips all over this disc.

What worth is a definitely fluid song, with peaks and valleys woven tight and deep - if the hook and main verse contain blatant rips of Metallica's "Damage Inc"??. The next track is an obvious departure, moving back into Dimmu territory, yet with all the lyrical cheese of Cradle Of Filth. Maybe the addition of glaring half the class nods to Arcturus last opus (via the broken clean vocals), and even some key runs probably more appropriate for Cradle than someone trying to move into
experimental territory. Although this all has me wondering after each track - where to next??? Marduk rips??? There is talent present, mounds of it, however this does not originality make - which if I am not mistaken was the point of composing this album under the avantgarde label to begin with, no??? Should I also mention the drum machine driven title track that completely derails things in a very bad, video game way??? Or the very eighties diva vocals polluting the following track, taking me back to the old days then kill it thoroughly with a blast beat follow up???? No, add that to the din, and if it still seems tasty to you, check it out. This is just not for me.

Brick by brick, this is by no means a bad CD. Well presented songs, semi-cohesive structures, melodies and harmonies, tight rythm section, multi-textured vocal execution, and a quality format - it just absolutely doesn't deviate from being a hodgepodge of idea's that do not present anything really new or mind blowing.
Maybe if solidified, with a more discerning approach to writing, a clearer direction of what they are attempting, and of course lose the cheese and ripoffs - then maybe you have a package worth some of the praise these guys seem to be looking for. I am done with this, for me a novelty at best.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:5.0
Atmosphere: 4.0
Production: 5.0
Originality: 4.0
Overall: 4.0

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Review by Wiley on June 26, 2009.

While I have always been one to promote expanding sound and pushing genre boundaries, sometimes I wonder if the details of songwriting are lost by those that undertake such endeavors. This is the crux of Damned Spirits' Dance's latest release - "Weird Constellation".

I very much enjoy the fact they dont mind walking around staying within one genre or another by adding frequency travelling synth atmospheres, circus-esque vocals, and dense melody lines to their basis of Dimmu Borgir/Cradle Of Filth blackened metal. They even pepper the tunes with breaks of Pestilence-Sphere's era dissonance, and samples placed amongst the more open ended riffs and buildups. However, with all these nice seasonings, on top of some well done playing, I cannot overlook the glaring rips all over this disc.

What worth is a definitely fluid song, with peaks and valleys woven tight and deep - if the hook and main verse contain blatant rips of Metallica's "Damage Inc"??. The next track is an obvious departure, moving back into Dimmu territory, yet with all the lyrical cheese of Cradle Of Filth. Maybe the addition of glaring half the class nods to Arcturus last opus (via the broken clean vocals), and even some key runs probably more appropriate for Cradle than someone trying to move into
experimental territory. Although this all has me wondering after each track - where to next??? Marduk rips??? There is talent present, mounds of it, however this does not originality make - which if I am not mistaken was the point of composing this album under the avantgarde label to begin with, no??? Should I also mention the drum machine driven title track that completely derails things in a very bad, video game way??? Or the very eighties diva vocals polluting the following track, taking me back to the old days then kill it thoroughly with a blast beat follow up???? No, add that to the din, and if it still seems tasty to you, check it out. This is just not for me.

Brick by brick, this is by no means a bad CD. Well presented songs, semi-cohesive structures, melodies and harmonies, tight rythm section, multi-textured vocal execution, and a quality format - it just absolutely doesn't deviate from being a hodgepodge of idea's that do not present anything really new or mind blowing.
Maybe if solidified, with a more discerning approach to writing, a clearer direction of what they are attempting, and of course lose the cheese and ripoffs - then maybe you have a package worth some of the praise these guys seem to be looking for. I am done with this, for me a novelty at best.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:5.0
Atmosphere: 4.0
Production: 5.0
Originality: 4.0
Overall: 4.0

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Review by Adam M on December 20, 2025.

This was a very solid album that introduced Ihsahn to the world of solo artistry in fine fashion. It showed that had the chops to produce an interesting side venture to go along with his very compelling Emperor efforts. The result is an eclectic and very saxophone heavy release that has the right amount of progressiveness to be a factor in the black metal genre.

There is a great display of musicianship to be found here with excellent guitar work, horn usage and singing adding up to a great overall musical effort. There is an outstanding range of vocal styles to be found and this makes the album sound bright and colorful. The entire thing is produced nicely and has a poignant sound to it.

The problem with the disc lies in how it isn’t significantly different than his other work and would be possibly surpassed by other albums like Eremita. It is held back by a standard approach that isn’t as progressive as Prometheus by Emperor. Still, this is a very interesting and revolutionary album for the artist as a solo performer. 

All in all, this was a very great album with solid production and memorable tracks like “Undercurrent”. There is very little to improve upon with later albums and this would see the artist merely fine tuning his work instead of greatly improving it. It is a great and powerful piece of progressive black metal.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10