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I think "Grand Declaration Of War" is a disappointment, and not because it's "not black metal" or whatever, I simply don't enjoy it. The vocals are incredibly irritating, the riffs are present but wholly unmemorable, and I don't feel the production adds anything (and if anything detracts with its tinny nature). The drums are impressive as should be expected from Hellhammer, but seem pretty engulfed by the mediocrity of the rest. A main quarrel of mine with the whole album is its lack of anything driving it along, making it fun to listen to – atmospheric, catchy, heavy, emotional... anything. It just seems like a forced and embarrassing attempt to be any of these elements, while being constantly fragmented by electronic-sounding, musing sections which just disjoint any positive quality which may have otherwise crept its way between the confused, uninteresting bulk of the music. Occasional moments of inspiration are quickly abandoned in favour of the boring shift which has well and truly set in by the time the album is half-over, and when it finally shuffles to a close the listener is left with little but a question of how that time could have been better filled. This isn’t to be unnecessarily negative, it’s just what I feel about it after getting to the end of this album. I don’t criticize the different approach the band have tried to take, nor the individual ideas, but just the way it comes together to form a big pile of unsatisfying nothing.
| Tracklist |
| Part II |
| 1. A Grand Declaration Of War |
| 2. In The Lies Where Upon I Lay |
| 3. A Time To Die |
| 4. View From Nihil |
| Part III |
| 5. Il Principe |
| i) A Bloodsword And A Colder Sun |
| ii) Crystalized Pain In Deconstruction |
| iii) Completion In Science Of Agony |
| iv) To Daimonion |
: 45.52
| Buy other Mayhem albums |
