Dante’s Divine Comedy will forever be remembered for its first third: Inferno. I have some ideas why, but my best guess is that neither Purgatorio nor Paradiso have the malice of Inferno. Dante literally condemned everyone he had ever quarreled with, living and dead, to eternal damnation. I think the same irony influenced symphonic black metal band Daidalos with their latest work, Dante, a concept album that reinterprets Dante’s journey through Inferno.
When the then one-man entity first appeared in these parts in 2022, their debut The Expedition took a Felagun d lashing for its excessive orchestrations and unpolished black metal. Daidalos’s mastermind, Tobias Püschner, must have taken that personally, because Dante – created in collaboration with guitarist Nahuel Lozano (Mental Cruelty) – is a much darker, more volatile beast than The Expedition. But is Dante an improvement on the debut, or would it be better to abandon all hope before entering?
Dante retain The Expedition’s greatest quality -the grandeur- and add more. Daidalos still play their brand of ultra-symphonic black metal, Dimmu Borgir meeting Wintersun, where walls of synths, strings and brass collide and scream unrestrainedly, provoking equal parts luxury (“King”) and grandeur (“Inferno”). But this time Daidalos also turned their guitar amps up to 11, giving the symphonics of Dante the truly massive, savage blackened edge they need and deserve. The fast tremolos and nimble melodeath riffs on Dante are huge, moving with a melodic richness reminiscent of Belzebubs (“Ashes”) and a weight that reminded me of Ildaruni’s latest record at its best (“Ultimatum”). Combined with some explosive fast drumming and loud caveman-like screams (“Storm”), and the blackened half of Daidalos is far better realized on Dante than before. Guitars and strings trade melodies on “Dis”, goth riffs from Tribulation’s Down Below era play on the gothic organs of “Euphobia” and massive choirs on “King” accompany its almost black ‘n’ roll middle section. It’s wonderful to hear Püschner’s symphonic sensibilities merging into a stronger black metal package on Dante.
Daidalos’s tendency toward adventure continues on Dante, as the album has the pulse and flow of a continuous journey. This is achieved through some of the most crucial uses of interlude tracks I’ve seen. While the main songs traverse the depths of Hell at full intensity, brief glimpses of haunted choirs (“Minos”), bells (“Gate”) and organ (“Malebolge”) add necessary breathers to the cacophony and establish the tone of their next songs, while leaving little time to get bored. Some are even interesting musical/acoustic passages in their own right, like the haunting soundscape of “Dante” turning into an almost industrial crawl or “Phlegethon” and its massive brass hits intertwined with church organ like some gothic Godzilla score. Only “Styx”, with its two minutes of water noises and nothing else, felt superfluous. These shape the epic highs and lows of high school footballan epic journey, making Dante’s lithe 37 minutes feel much more grandiose, while also leveraging Daidalos’s theatrical strengths.
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One of the biggest differences between The Expedition and Dante is in the editing — Daidalos did it this time. Daidalos created much shorter, much leaner tracks than on their debut, with only “Euphobia” approaching five minutes. This gives Dante a sense of immediacy and offers Daidalos some snappy, noteworthy tracks like “Inferno”, “Dis” and “Ultimatum”. But there’s also a sense that Dante could have been even better if Daidalos had focused on a few ideas a little longer. Tracks like “Storm” and “King” move through so many riffs, melodies and hype moments that they should be victories, but few ideas are allowed to truly settle in over the runtime. Similarly, Dante’s high-paced approach is often thrilling, but its uniformity across the main tracks can become somewhat monotonous. Dante has its standout moments — the line «Falling into the void» on «Ultimatum» is simply chilling — but Daidalos could have had more if they let some of their songs breathe a little longer.
I don’t hate Daidalos’s debut, but it’s clear that Dante is a clearly stronger record. Rich and immediate, Dante is a journey worth taking for any fan of symphonic black metal. But even if The Expedition burned you, Daidalos addressed enough of its problems that it might be worth describing. Inferno may have been built by divine power, supreme wisdom and primordial love, but if what I believe is true and Daidalos made Dante with a chip on their shoulder in our last review, then malice is just as good at raising Hell.
Rating: Good
DR: 6 | Format reviewed: Some kind of MP3.
Label: Rockshots Records
Websites: daidalosmusic.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/daidalosband
Releases worldwide: February 20, 2026
