Deathspell Omega have often been considered one of the darkest bands in the entire Black Metal genre. Consequently, it's inevitable that there is something to dread from them.
- Most of their music. The band's stances in interviews and the sheer lack of information about the band members arguably contribute even more to this.
- Their album covers are no slouch, either: Si monumentum requires, circumspice depicts a rotting cherub, Fas shows Lucifer falling from Heaven, Paracletus depicts the Beast of Revelation and The Furnaces of Palingenesia shows a twisted black city in the middle of a desolate wasteland under a red tinged sky.
- The lyrics and concepts behind their music are arguably terrifying and unnerving even by black metal standards: They turn what's basically a cliched black metal trope into something unsettling and borderline chilling, if their trilogy saga gives any indication.
- The concept of the trilogy about God and Satan being portrayed as Eldritch Abominations who basically utilize Crapsack Cosmos of chaos and eternal suffering in a Cosmic Horror Story is pretty unsettling when you get the lyrics down, probably causing listeners to suffer an existential crisis.
- Song wise, they're everywhere. "Second Prayer" sounds like a ritual sacrifice, the first "Obombration" is a droning nightmare of uncertainty (alongside "I" off of Kénôse), the opening of The Synarchy of Molten Bones...
- The "I am God" passage of "Diabolus absconditus", quoted directly from Georges Bataille's Madame Edwarda, is scary in a squicky way; probably the only truly obscene moment in Deathspell Omega's work.“Why”, I stammered in a subdued tone, “Why are you doing that?”
“You can see for yourself”, she said, “I am God.” - The liner notes of Si monumentum requires, circumspice feature actual crime scene photos, including a black and white photo of a hanging victim with a halo edited over his head.
- "Carnal Malefactor" is — both lyrically and musically — mostly depressing until the midsection, featuring a rendition of the Old Church Slavonic Hymn of the Cherubim. It's mournful, and a Breather Episode by the album's standards, but lacks any accompanying sounds other than a Heartbeat Soundtrack... until the band crashes back in with a Scare Chord.
- "Chaining the Katechon" begins with an explosive riff as though the band was already in the middle of the song when it started playing, and it just gets more insane from there: one minute, it's just as violent and abrasive as it was when it started, but then it takes on a softer tone that still manages to be just as unnerving as the rest of the song, and at the climax, the vocals sound much less like the typical death growl that the band is known for and more like the deranged wails of a madman. Not to mention the lyrics portray a Childless Dystopia and a depiction of Satan's "image" that is the stuff of nightmares.
- Those horrible tortured screams that can be heard in just under a minute and a half into "Phosphene". For those not expecting it, it's probably one of the most disturbing moments in the band's discography.
- The world described in the EP Drought is horrifying and depressing. Unable to stop Satan's corruption of reality, God (who is presented in an unusually positive light for this band), decides to Mercy Kill the universe by abandoning it. This causes the world to fade away both spiritually and literally until eventually being reduced to nothing but a desert with no life except huge swarms of scorpions.
- Even more so if one takes into account the Reality Subtext behind this entire EP. The lyrics can be read as a metaphor for man-made climate change, which is confirmed in the 2020 Cult Never Dies interview as entirely deliberate.
- While they're not half as bad as most of these examples, the choral chants audible in the background in "Apokatastasis Pantôn" are somewhat unsettling in what's otherwise probably one of the most harrowing songs they've ever played.
- The music video for "Ad Arma! Ad Arma!" depicts a surreal, fascistic future. Among other things, it displays humans impaled by lightning bolts, hanging upside down from a set of scales, and a giant skeletal structure at the center of a labyrinth.
- The way a Crapsack World is described in The Furnaces of Palingenesia, completely pulling a Ax-Crazy historical-esque story of a political faction known as "The Order" who fits very trope of authoritarianism. So in a sense, a black metal equivalent to 1984. It also features a song called Splinters From Your Mother's Spine.
- "You Cannot Even Find the Ruins" might just be the most horrific depiction of an apocalypse that the band has ever done. While The End of the World as We Know It is nothing new for them, here, God and Satan are unusually absent, leaving nothing but a world undone not by any supernatural force, but by the depravity of man, almost reading like a cautionary tale. The lyrics suggest that once the Order has imploded, it'll take the rest of the world with it, leaving absolutely no trace of humanity's existence.
- While a rare case of Surreal Humor from the band, the fable in The Long Defeat features Satan manifesting as a diseased, maggot-infested poodle that grows to the size of a bear and praising the wickedness of human nature. While devouring a pile of arms. May also count as Horror Comedy depending on one's tastes in humour; it certainly Crosses the Line Twice if not more.“Well, beat up a bloody horse in Turin and the philosopher king drops his hammer”, scoffs the poodle. As he shakes his body and head, worms and pus are flung in all directions. Licking his snout, he says: “Folks, I am expected for dinner. With this breed in charge, the world has no dearth of souls to devour! Nonetheless, a final word in closing…” He stares with utmost intensity at the silhouette. “I am your father but also your child. We are family and you feed me.”
