Metal, jazz, dance, seventies rock to the accompany of a synthesizer. I think this is the best way to describe Damned Spirits Dance from Hungary when listening to their new release called Weird Constellations.

 

This might just be the strangest album I’ve listened to in a long while. When I use the word strange, I don’t mean that in a disapproving or disliking way, on the contrary. Let me try to capture in words why Weird Constellations proves that strange can be good as well.

 

It takes a few turns before you are able to fray all the aspects of the songs. I think it’s fair enough to state that the fundament is a very theatrical kind of black metal blended with some unusual, or should I say unexpected, characteristics of completely different music. The organ (well, rather the keyboards) has a very prominent place in the tracks and seems to be capable of turning a metal song into a dance track within seconds. Vocalist Sinox changes from metal screams to beautiful clean vocals seemingly without any effort and the guitar riffs, and of course the guitar solos, twist the tracks easily from a seventies rock style into a more jazzy sound. All of this happens in such a rush, you need to sit down and take your time and energy in order to analyse it in a righteous matter. I really appreciate the acoustic 'Guess, I’m Dying' because that leaves you with an intoxication of silence, even though the entire album felt like a fast train.

 

Damned Spirits Dance definitely produced something for the open minded metal head. There are so many different influences on this album, it’s as if you’re listening to a stream of different genres, but fortunately all by the same band, because on Weird Constellation they were capable of fitting the pieces of the puzzle right into each other. Damned Spirits Dance has a recognizable sound which makes the entire album cohesive despite the fact they mix metal with the most diverse elements of other styles. To me, this album was much needed to get that small, but oh so necessary breeze of fresh air.