vote
7.5
- Bands:
SAVAGE OATH - Duration: 00:43:52
- Available from: 03/15/2024
- Label:
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Postmortem Apocalypse
In the panorama of the so-called new wave of traditional heavy metal there are entities that enjoy the ability to turn most of the productions they touch into gold: this is, for example, the case of the American singer Brendan Radigan, former voice of the astonishing Sumerlands and the promising Stone Dagger , and who recently saw his efforts paid off, being hired on a permanent basis in the iconic Pagan Altar.
Well, we are now in the presence of the first official full-length by a new reality which sees the aforementioned frontman as protagonist, joined for the occasion by other prominent underground figures, such as guitarist Leeland Campana, always a member of epic metaller Visigoth, and the former Manilla Road bassist, Phil Ross, now a member of the still very fresh Sentry and the more experienced Ironsword.
A poker that finds its fourth element in the drummer Austin Wheeler, rhythmic engine supporting the entire structure, to try his hand at what is a creature destined once again to spread the name of the musicians involved: we are talking about Savage Oath and of their high-sounding “Divine Battle”, in which the band inserts all the good already sown thanks to last year’s EP of the same name, and then releases all its heavy/power matrix in the old fashioned way with an opening piece that is nothing short of stunning : “Knight Of The Night” is in fact a concentration of overwhelming energy and combative melodic solutions, which find their place in a more rocking key also in the following and less aggressive “Wings Of Vengeance”, albeit with the sword always firmly in his hands.
The compositional inspiration that has long made the fortune of this small assault platoon appears immediately in all its power, proving to be worthy of the excellent feedback obtained from defenders all over the world with the various projects managed by them: the vocal sector is practically free from defects, and the instrumental one also plays its part excellently, managing to completely manage the fastest and most rhythmic phases. The latter present themselves with a graceful and regal manner in “Blood For The King” which, despite preferring quite slow tempos, does not lower the listener’s adrenaline even for a single moment, but rather stimulates it in the last two minutes thanks to a renewed anger, then calmed by the instrumental interlude “Smoke At Dawn”.
The band prefers quality over quantity, and this is the best justification for the only seven (six, excluding the interlude mentioned above) songs present in a setlist made up of pieces of considerable duration, and that with “Madness Of The Crowd” resumes exactly as it began: showing off deadly rhythms and lots of healthy heavy/power at breakneck speed, before moving on to a song named after the band itself, again with a rhythmic and typically epic metal formula, and then definitively surprising the listener with a final title track not far from an authentic medieval ballad.
As we have already said, the songs are few, but all of very high quality, to say the least, even if, in fact, the structural choices still leave a hint of a sense of incompleteness, as if at the end there should be a final metallic lash that but it doesn’t arrive, and the sensation conveyed to the listener is that of an album that, if it had lasted those six minutes longer, could have aspired to excellence in its sector.
In any case, this is yet another center by figures who we believe are only doing the good of classic metal, and we are not surprised to notice the name of Savage Oath on the billboard of the next Keep It True, scheduled for end of the month, where for those who chew these sounds it is truly impossible to miss.
