AN NCS PREMIERE: DIABOLIC OATH — “APOCRYPHAL MANIFESTATIONS”

 

How does a band who are devoted to the most ruinous amalgamations of death and black metal stand out from the underground hordes who profess the same kind of devotion? Where the sonic expression of hell on earth is the dominant aesthetic, how does one advance beyond the orthodoxy of extreme audio annihilation? Diabolic Oath has an answer — actually, many answers, as revealed on their debut album Profane Death Exodus.

This Portland, Oregon band seized the attention of Sentient Ruin Laboratories, who are poised to release the album on June 26th. The alliance of that label alone is a sign that Diabolic Oath have concocted something unusual, something that builds upon the influence of such bands as Teitanblood, Immolation, and Bestial Warlust. And as a further sign, today we present the album’s fifth track, “Apocryphal Manifestations”.

 

Photo by A.L.

 

Among other distinguishing features, Diabolic Oath‘s armaments include fully fretless stringed instruments (both guitars and bass), and an equal sharing of vocal responsibilities among all three members. Moreover, while many blackened death metal bands (those who typically invoke the label “war metal”) are prone to engaging in spasms of blast-furnace violence, Diabolic Oath are less frenzied and more tank-like, and their music more steeped in moods of misery and desolation. Moreover, the band infiltrate their sonic terrorism with differing accents that give the music a supernatural aura.

In the song we’re presenting today, titanic levels of distortion don’t completely obscure the weird and warped tones of the guitar, which become immediately apparent in the song’s opening seconds — an eerie, moaning sequence that operates as a brief and unnerving prelude to the massive and mutilating cyclone of sound that follows it. That stunning assault is segmented by titanic stomping chords and ruthlessly raking riffs, all seemingly bent on cracking the earth’s mantle and excavating what lies beneath it through the sheer force of the sound.

The song is further driven by drums that methodically go off like the crack of gunshots or the detonation of megaton warheads, or hammer like turbocharged pistons. The tripartite vocals are as terrifying as the apocalyptic sounds around them, veering from abyssal roars to deranged shrieks and shattering howls. The combined impact of these sounds is overwhelming, but preternatural leads rise up in extravagant fashion from within the thunderous cataclysm, spiraling and wailing in dismal and esoteric tones, as if manifesting the appearance of phantasms in the midst of world-ending calamity.

Damned harrowing and brutally destructive music to be sure, but with a simultaneous aura of blood-freezing, imperious mysticism as well.

 

We are told that Profane Death Exodus “was cast down from the law of the mountain at The Underworld Studio and Pale Magus Productions under the illumination of Regulus and Spica, and forged into canon at Tehom Productions under Antares and Kaus Australis, AG 2330”. The memorable cover art was created by Misanthropic Art, and the logo and sigil by iconartistry.

The record can be pre-ordered via the links below, and we’ve also included a stream of the previously released song “Opening the Gates to Blasphemic Domination“, along with today’s premiere.

PRE-ORDER:
https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/profane-death-exodus
http://sentientruin.com/releases/diabolic-oath-profane-death-exodus

DIABOLIC OATH:
https://www.facebook.com/Diabolic-Oath-179885016082489/