Friday, December 6, 2019

Diamoth-Exhibition of Reality (2019)

Post #383

Diamoth are a Christian Black Metal band form Arica, Chile. This may seem an oxymoron of sorts, as the term 'Black Metal' originated to describe bands with anti-Christian views. Therefor a more accurate description for Diamoth (or other bands in this situation) would be 'Unblack Metal'. By virtue of the genre's definitive vocal style consisting of screams and shrieks, to the casual listener the majority of lyrics seem unintelligible. For listeners who go for the overall feel of their music, and put less concern on the specifics of lyrics, they may appreciate black metal and 'unblack' metal equally.

Nonetheless, Diamoth identify as 'Christian Black Metal', and deliver their heavy and demonic-sounding metal with the best of them. What I particularly like about their sound is that they hang onto many stylistic elements from the early days of death metal: riffs that build, progress and move the music. Tempos that show variation- they have several slower-tempo grinders in addition to the faster-paced thrashers. Many of their songs remind me of early-80's Sepultura.

Exhibition of Reality, their newest release, is a 'Black Metal' style album with its claws dug into the thrash-influenced origins of the genre. My aforementioned similarity to Sepultura is highly present throughout Exhibition of Reality. A true benefit to getting the physical CD copy would be the fact that they include scriptural inspiration for each song in the liner notes.

Recommended tracks:
-Awakening (This song is the first on the album and kicks you in the teeth with speed-driven riffs!)
-Pride and Powerless (This one is one of the slower grinding songs. It has a lot of riff changes that give it an almost progressive vibe)
-Preacher of Lower Passions (This one starts with a slow intro, but soon kicks into high gear and is a great, riff-fest of a thrasher!)
-Baal (The album's closer- this is a mid-tempo grinder with chugging riffs. They do have a lyric video for it on youtube. See the link below!)




(review copy of Exhibition of Reality provided by Peter Smith of Frozen Tundra Records.)

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