Dark Oath - Under a Blackened Sky

Portugal’s Dark Oath describe themselves as Saurium Metal, which I’m guessing is somewhat related with Sauron, the dark lord of Tolkien’s epic novel “Lord of the Rings”, yet I could be wrong. Nevertheless, whatever Dark Oath decided to tag their sonority, it sounds flat and generic, without a whole lot to garner a tiny bit of enthusiasm.

Their first recording “Under a Blackened Sky” sees Dark Oath melding a melodic death-metal sound with some black-metal elements and is nothing but a middling demonstration of young act giving their first steps in music, way too embryonic to make a good impression.

The lacklustre production job doesn’t help either and cannot mask their limited execution and song-writing skills, for instance the guitar riffs sound thin and gutless and the guttural vocals sound like they were recorded on a karaoke system.

This EP is not all bad though, the Portuguese quintet does show some interesting ideas from time to time, but on the overall it’s short on an adventurous musicianship and convincing compositions.

You have to be better than this to make an impact, so work harder and refine your song-craft. Remember that Moonspell could hardly play their instruments when they first started and look at where they’re now. (3.8/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.myspace.com/darkoath66