Mark the date! The 28th of November this year brings another reason to go to Osmose productions because the sophomore full-length of Portuguese death/black entity The ominous circle called Cloven tongues of fire will be released. As mentioned in an earlier review they share the label and date with the great Summoning Hellgates. Before we find out if the two can also match the same energy (Porto region, Portugal vs Madrid area, Spain) I want to know a bit more about the The ominous circle.
Metalarchives only lists their initials and current/past bands, but after some digging I found out that the circle consists of members known for other extreme acts in the Portuguese scene. Bands like Holocausto canibal and Dementia 13. This brings me to the current lineup:
Z.P. (Zé Pedro) – Bass guitar
M.A. (Marcelo Rúben Aires) – Drums
A.C. (António Carvalho) – Guitars
M.S. (Marco ‘Markito’ Silva) – Guitars
S.L. (Simón García López) – Vocals
The production for the seven track long, 42 minutes and 26 seconds album; is done by João Ribeiro and mastered at True Resonance Studio. The artwork and layout are respectively done by Ars Alchymiae & Álex Tedín.
But now what we came for, music!
The album starts with an intro with just some guitar noise/feedback that goes on for a whole minute. This does not add to the album at all, even while giving it a name like Thus beckons the abyss. So we will talk about the first real track Lowest immanations. It starts with a raw but heavy sounding guitar, it really builds up the tension. After half a minute the band jumps in and what peaks my interest is the organic sounding drums. They sound clear and well produced, it adds to the heavy feeling of the music. The vocals are dark and guttural, with a nice crisp to it. Lead guitars come and go and add to the dimension of insanity. This first track is almost slow paced only, building up tension. Toward the end it explodes with a guitar solo that fits great. While the guitars explode the drums pick up the pace and we can hear the first backbeats, fast double bass work and blastbeats. Great building up of tension!
To continue that spirit the band starts fast paced with Through tunnels ablaze, and during this the track opens up a lot during the middle section. More layers can be heard, it sounds like a band that has matured in their skillset. It is well executed and everything seems to fit like it was meant to be.
The entire album has a great flow to it. The only two downsides are the intro and the fourth track, which is just a dissonant riff with some added noises. Luckily they don’t last long and we can keep the focus on the great parts of actual music. Every track has the building and release of tension, while remaining to have its own identity. That is a great feat to have!
80/100
The ominous circle:
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Osmose Productions:
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