ORACLE
Independent
The debut from Alabama, USA’s Oracle delivers a highly produced offering of melodic death metal. The guitar solos with tapping of diminished arpeggios is a standout feature, however, whilst good sounds far too clinical. “There Will be Blood” exemplifies a programmed production which makes everything precise but loses any organic feel. The drums also sound programmed (even though they’re not) and everything is clearly audible. Song wise there’s nothing over five minutes on this ten-track release. Vocals are grunted in that familiar melodic death style with no variation throughout aside from the occasional overdub backing. The prevalence of keyboards on “Nocturnal Creatures” adds interest to this album. Unfortunately, the similarity to this and the thousands of other melodic death releases in the market means attention wanes. “By the Hand of Aestra” is by far the standout track as it is the only one which appears to deviate from the traditional melodic death metal formula. This is because it also displays passion, variation and not just playing metal by the numbers. I do hope this band in the future takes a more original path and develops their own style as they are obviously talented musicians. They are simply let down by over-production and the confines of stale sound. -Simon Brown
Track list:
1. Aeons of Madness
2. There will be Blood
3. Beyond Omega
4. Nocturnal Creatures
5. By the hand of Aestrea
6. On the wings of a Martyr
7. Beneath the Crimson Veil
8. Tomb of Serpents
9. The Cleansing
10. Blood Stained Epatiph
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