Darkness Swallows All

Diocletian returned in a surprising duo-release of this EP and their first live album Live in Leipzig. Although it seems hard to grow with the band’s musical direction since their fourth record Amongst the Flames of a Bvrning God, at least the original vocalist is back. My man L.M., who sang on the first four releases, the crusty European Annihilation EP, and the destructive masterpiece in Gesundrian returns to sing on the first two songs, which are unreleased versions of Oath to Ruin and War Messiah. You can find their re-recorded versions on Doom Cult and Disciples of War EP, respectively. As for Impurath, the current singer since the fourth record performs on a cover version of Bathory‘s Possessed. Finally, the EP ends with a five-minute instrumental track - and if it ain’t the first the band has ever recorded.

Regarding L.M.s songs, the re-recorded Oath to Ruin doesn’t sound far from this unreleased version, just a different mix, and, of course, L.M.’s vocals (unless the lyrics are also different, which in this case it’s a bit indistinguishable due to the incomprehensible vocals). You still have them fast black metal riffs and the unprecedented blast beats. A decent short song that gets the job done, but just like the majority of Doom Cult, this version is not that good. War Messiah is almost significantly shorter than the long re-recorded version. I think the tuning is a bit different on this unreleased version, and for being a minute and a half shorter, it feels like an original song; like throw a different title and it’ll still work. I can’t really make any difference and comparisons between the unreleased and the re-recorded versions, other than liking the more precise guitar riffs and crazy solo, the overall drumming, and the shrieking.

Either it was intentional or that’s the production used in the recording of this EP (at least the second half), the cover version of Bathory‘s Possessed is too damn raw; good and bad. I kinda like the ringing sound from the guitars, but they sound repetitive from start to finish. The drums follow the same pattern, with the vocals showing little to no impact. What’s also disappointing is that they didn’t record the closing guitar solo outro like in the original. And speaking of closing anything, To the Death is ferocious! I’d say it sums up most of the band’s music combust into five minutes of rhythmic black metal riffs and experimental drums work, and you may recognize some Decimator-ish music in the final two minutes.

As expected, there’s little to no magnificence from the band since Gesundrian, though I haven’t given up yet. After this release, I’m not sure what to expect from the band’s future; be it an original demo or EP, or a fifth full-length. I just damn hope whatever they’ll release next will be good and original. Unfortunately, this EP isn’t going to cut it for me. Although the unreleased War Messiah is quite refreshing, it’s still disappointing to hear basically almost the same songs (which, of course, only applies to Oath to Ruin). They basically came out during the recordings of Doom Cult, so I’d estimate they would be bad. The Bathory cover is also plain awful. The band had recorded impressive covers before, and this one is shameful.