Sacramental Oblivion

CORRECTION: Persefone was misspelled as "Persephone" in the original submission. My apologies.

A friend of mine sent me this disc recently. I got a snicker at the broken English band name. In the first three seconds of listening to this, however, I knew that he had gifted me with a rather unique disc.

DoD is atmospheric, riff-based, dark and scary at times, and even groovy. Most of the material on this CD leans toward black metal. One thing that really sets their music apart is the distinct groove element that seems to remain prevalent across most of the disc.

The title track "Sacramental Oblivion" reminds of bands like Scholomance (USA), earlier Agathodaimon (Germany), and even Locus Factor (USA). The track is mid-tempo atmospheric black metal, but towards the end stops dead and breaks into an enormous groove/slam riff. By description, it may seem out of place. In context it's phenomenal.

"She Loved Agony Of Shadows" starts off with a rather ominous keyboard intro that could have very well bridged into a slower melodic doom track. Instead, the track is more along the lines of Persefone (Andorra). "SLAOS" uses high and low vocals over a catchy main line weaving across varied drum styles. At times the track uses drum beats not far removed from Equilibrium (Germany). Melodic guitar harmonies are used sparingly but add marked strength to the bottom line.

DoD put a lot of focus on writing riffs that stick with this disc. In my opinion, a band that takes the time to concentrate on writing quality riffs every single time sets themselves above others. DoD is one of those bands. Fans of the aforementioned bands will not be disappointed in this release.