In anticipation of greater, more horrific things to come in the new year, we proudly bring you the “Divinations” split 7” between Aberration and Diabolic Oath, two rising forces of US surrealistic extreme metal darkness.
The twelve-minute split has been teased by No Clean Singing who have revealed a minute-long sample of each of the band’s respective tracks, remarking that the collaborative effort is “evil to the core, as raw and filthy as week-old roadkill, and as oppressive and abyssal as it is berserk, but it’s technically accomplished as well as disturbing and disorienting.“ - you can read the feature and check out the audio previews HERE.
Slated for a January 5 2024 release, this two-song declaration of war upon human psyche showcases the two US-based sorcerers of omnipotent aural terror in complete command of control of their respective crafts as they summon each their own staple idealization of humongous and hallucinatory black/death deformations. “Divinations” serves as a precursor and taste to what's to come, namely the spring 2024 release of the bands’ two new full length albums, Aberration’s colossal “Refracture", and Diabolic Oath’s still secretive but completed second full length abomination.
With influences coming from surrealistic extreme metal beasts like Antediluvian, Altarage, Portal and Impetuous Ritual, Minneapolis MN dark death metal obscurators Aberration debuted via Sentient Ruin with their self-titled 2021 debut 10" EP, an aural pact with total darkness that established them as one of the most imaginative and intimidating new entities in American underground extreme metal. No newcomers to game, Aberration formed in late 2019 with JH of Void Rot on guitar and vocals, DH of Suffering Hour on bass and vocals, AW of Nothingness on guitar, and EC of Tvaer on drums and threw the sum of their talents and influences into an obfuscating sonic glorification of total darkness and oblivion, combining death, doom, dissonant black metal and tenebrous ambient/drone to create an imposing aural hellscape of all-devouring terror. Their surrealistic interpretation of dark abstract death metal will find its absolute triumph and sublimation with “Refracture”, the band’s debut full-length album for Sentient Ruin slated for a spring 2024 release.
Diabolic Oath was begotten in Portland, Oregon in late 2017 by the will of The Temple and of Ominous Void. Almost immediately, Cthonian Incursor was summoned to join, providing blasphemous vitriol and unholy thunderous percussion. The trio soon recorded the first offering, “MMXVIII”, and began the first incursions of unforgettably bleak and bludgeoning live rituals. Soon after, the band began writing new material which coalesced to become their mind-bending and flesh-battering first full-length album, “Profane Death Exodus” released in 2020 by Sentient Ruin. To make this album it was decided early on to implement the unique and unorthodox approach of fretless bass and guitar instruments combined with a triple vocal attack delivered by all members of the group, often simultaneously, to harness something unseen and unheard of before then in extreme metal, and completely ungovernable and unhinged. The band’s sound at this point began to flow as free-form sonic death ritual, beginning to assume abominable and experimental traits, and yielding an imposing sound drenched in lawlessness and chaos. Around the same time an anonymous, ritualistic approach to the live setting was adopted, incorporating in live perfomances meditations on death accompanied by obscure offerings, to further shape the creature’s essence in a realm of mysticism, chaos, and absurdity. The sound of Diabolic Oath is the culmination of a meticulous distillation of influences and styles ranging from black, death, and war metal to doom, and with certain influences (new and old) such as Teitanblood, Morbid Angel, and Bestial Warlust creeping into the mix alternating more pronounced references to more subtle ones. The band has worked tirelessly to carve its Diabolic path, playing shows to support high-caliber underground acts across the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Mexico. With the debut full-length, “Profane Death Exodus”, the band was intuitively poised to conquer, destroy, and seal the oath, a feat accomplished which paved the way to the next generation of their wretched incantations, namely the cryptic and highly destructive 2022 MLP “Aischrolatreia” (also released on all formats by Sentient Ruin), but mostly, the sublimation of it all, Diabolic Oath’s still unnamed but already ominously looming new heirloom of unconquerable chaos: their immense 2024 sophomore full-length abomination.