Black Oath - Ov Qliphoth And Darkness

Black Oath

Ov Qliphoth And Darkness

by Daniel Silva at 20 May 2013, 3:40 PM

I had read great reviews of "Ov Qliphoth And Darkness" promising it was one of the Doom Metal records of the year together with PROCESSION’s, a great record to which I had given a masterpiece rating, for that reason I was really excited when I got BLACK OATH’s sophomore album to review, but unfortunately I was really disappointed.

The album started with an instrumental song, “Esbat (Lamiae Sinagoge Pt. 2)”, that had the objective of setting the atmosphere for the rest of the record and this it did, it made me enter into the state required to really get into the spirit of the songs but when the vocals came on that was when the spell was broken. The singer is the main flaw of this record, his voice is bland and uninspired, lacking the necessary qualities a Doom Metal vocalist requires to truly deliver the spirit of the song not to mention his vocals are buried behind all the other instruments, I don’t know if this is due to a production issue or due to his weak vocal delivery but is enough to ruin the whole experience.

I am giving this record a rating of 6 because it shows potential, there are no flaws with the instrumentals, and the band has a great image and decent lyrics, now if only they would recruit a better singer they would be able to truly develop and reach all their potential.