The Ominous Circle - Appaling Ascension (EN)

Intros are always such a vage thing. Sometimes they fit well, sometimes they are just annoying. The best example of the latter is the intro of "Appaling Ascension", the debut album by the Portuguese The Ominous Circle.

The guitar's feedback sets in, somewhere in the background a creature chokes to death and in the foreground a dark and scratchy voice sets in and talks your ear off. You would have been able to withstand that for one or two minutes but is it really necessary to stretch it to a length of four minutes? Well, let's leave it at that, after that the five men from Porto deliver merciless Death Metal.

Yes, after this intro, I had no idea what might happen. It was really surprising that in the first seconds of "From Endless Chasms" merciless Old School Death Metal flew around my ears. Everything is perfectly matched. The great Mr. M.A. heats up properly on the drums and shines with his dynamic playing style. The riffs are catchy and like a rolling forward roll. The deep growls sit as if poured and give the whole thing the final something. From the sunny Porto one has suddenly moved to Scandinavia; how appropriate, that then even solos charm in the best Grave manner.

The song lengths, however, are a bit untypical. These start at only six minutes and sometimes go up to the 10 minute limit. In spite of this seemingly oversizing, the tension is maintained. The mid-tempo-parts are either inserted into the really fast music ("Poisen Fumes"), or a gear is switched back, so that gloating doom parts can be introduced ("Consecrating His Mark").

Now and then it's obvious how good The Ominous Circle works with speed and how they create an interesting balancing act between fast and slow. The power and violence behind the music are never lost and stretch throughout the entire album.

With "Appaling Ascension", the five men are already serving something for 2017. Throughout the whole album good performance and death metal are delivered in the best manner. There will be a lot to be heard by The Ominous Circle, I'm sure.

Conclusion:
If you want to have exciting and varied Death Metal directly at the beginning of the year, get a hold of this disc. The Ominous Circle deliver it in the best way.

Rating: 9/10

Recommendation: From Endless Chasms, Consecrating His Mark