This is that kind of stuff that even in the first moments you put it to play you are already sure that it is not something made by inexperienced musicians. In addition to the extremely high musical quality, visual aggression totally befitting the sound presented, the skills and confidence that the band members demonstrate in their respective instruments is something that is certainly highlighted in “Sidvs”, the debut EP of the Draconian Black Metal Horde DIABOLISM that in its five compositions bring to Earth a little more than twenty minutes of pure chaos, destruction and blasphemy . Researching a little more about the band we found that the certainty that we mentioned at the beginning of the review is not a mere illusion because we found that among the line up of DIABOLISM there are members and former members of the ETERNAL SACRIFICE a horde that with twenty-eight years on the road and four albums is already an extremely respected veteran of the Brazilian Black Metal scene.
“Sidvs” starts with the title track that after a brief introduction presents us with the sound proposal of DIABOLISM, that is a fast and straight Black Metal drenched in an extremely refined sense of melody, extremely cold and razor cutting guitar riffs, devastating drums with the double bass dictating all the dynamics of the composition, bass as heavy as the conscience of a pedophile priest and vocals that seem to carry the infernal legions with it; the track starts extremely fast but falls into its middle section in a slower arrangement with a strummed guitar and a beautifully bass line that serves as the background for a great guitar solo that precedes the return of the chaotic frenzy. “Death Bargee” comes in the sequel keeping the accelerated tempo of the beginning of the previous track, but bringing with it a little more melody and soon getting into some more complex arrangements. This track brought to my mind a little of that sound that was heard in Swedish Black Metal of the 90s and is highlighted in my opinion the vocal versatility of Anton Naberius who here presents to us several textures and layers bringing a hateful aura to the music and greatly enriching the composition. We continue with “Spit and Blood” which starts with one of those guitar lines whose melody will stay in your head all day in a loop repeating ad infinitum bringing both torment and delight. “Vanity” is the track that follows and here we can see in some moments a slight influence of Death Metal in DIABOLISM’s music, this is the most chaotic composition of the EP bringing several tempo changes, going unceremoniously from a total blast beat moment to an obscure guitar strumming, from a raw and straight riff to intricate moments. Undoubtedly my favorite track and I hope they repeat this formula in future works. “Vignette” is a brief acoustic outro and closes “Sidvs” perfectly. Talking about the musical production, here we have a great one that made all instruments clear and defined but without that polished “plastic sound”, still bringing those wonderful “edges” in the music, something that in my opinion is very necessary to the Black Metal sound style. You’ll fell spikes in your ears.
In days like the present when new bands appear from everywhere and not always with creativity as one of their characteristics, it is undoubtedly a more than pleasant surprise to see a first release from a horde with such high quality. DIABOLISM, mark this name with the certainty that you will hear it many times from now on. Highly recommended.
