If “The Somberlain” was an instrumentally competent and artistically mature take on the new style of melodic black metal, the sophomore “Storm of the Light’s Bane” would be Dissection’s “Slaughter of the Soul” gaythernburg sellout moment.

So, what does that make “Reinkaos”? Do you really need to know the answer to that question? This “Reinkaos” fecal explosion is Dissection going full glam metal on their fans, and essentially turning what was at one point a promising black metal project into, basically, In Flames. I wish I was joking, but I’m not.

This is literally Gothenburg 101, how to play “hard rock” with a sufficient amount of superficial “extreme metal” aesthetics to fool gullible metalheads into buying your latest commercial radio rock bullshit.

A technique later perfected by bands such as Arch Enemy and Enslaved, because as we know, being “edgy” sells records. This “blackened hard rock” is any record company’s wet dream – as easy to play as Nirvana, as accessible as  Papa Roach, as “edgy” and “provocative” as Dissection’s “anti-cosmic Satanism” allows it to be. And, again, “edgy” is what sells records.

If anything, this release “Reinkaos” will at least cure your insomnia. The combination of Arch Enemy melodeath riffs and a soft, lame, overdone production, with no abrasiveness or atmosphere at all, make this album THE perfect way to ensure you get a good night’s sleep.

Why I am I pissing on a dead band and beating on a dead horse? Because this album really sucks grandiose cock. Sure, everyone saw it coming after the mediocre “Storm of the Light’s Bane” diarrhea.

But on “Reinkaos” Dissection totally lost it. Making Arch Enemy melodeath is one thing, but miss Angela Nödtveidt could’ve at least TRIED to make it sound interesting or sinister. There is NOTHING sinister about “Reinkaos” – nothing at all. Not one riffs sticks out as the type you’d expect to find in a black metal record. And did I mention that these songs are really just verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus pop songs with a lot of reverb and distortion? Well, even though miss Angela Nödtveidt hinted at it on “Storm of the Light’s Bane”, it really comes to light here. The songs are so predictable that you can get bored of them by your very first listen.

Of course, I still bought this “Reinkaos” album, knowing full well it was going to blow. I’m a Dissection fan, after all, and have been ever since their debut “The Somberlain” and the early demos – most of which, by the way, wipe the floor with “Storm of the Light’s Bane” and “Reinkaos”.

Even if it’s a turd, it’s still Dissection. It’s not *that* horrible and unlistenable as to be compared to Watain or Dark Funeral, but it’s really just boring old “hard rock” AC/DC style, and damn nearly impossible to finish awake. Unless you have every other Dissection album and just “gotta collect them all”, I’d do good to stay away from “Reinkaos”.

For being the “Third and Final chapter in Dissection’s Legacy“, as advertised in the liner notes, it sure blows. I wonder if miss Angela Nödtveidt had these pretentious thoughts and interview talking points before he got incarcerated… by the way, did she go to a male or female prison?

Replace with Queensrÿche for good hard rock, or with Phantom’s “The Epilogue to Sanity” and Burzum’s “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss” for good black metal. Just don’t listen to this weird try-hard incestuous hybrid.