Aberration / Diabolic Oath – Divinations [Split]

Ever since I started to get into extreme music, split 7” EP’s have intrigued me. Through many of them I discovered a lot of great bands as in some cases I only knew one of the bands featured on the EP’s. It also does symbolise the general feeling of interconnectedness that often manifests itself in extreme music. Without talking over dramatic flower power, the friendships, or affinities on a musical level, have not infrequently led to interesting or downright great split releases. ‘Divinations’ can undoubtedly be seen as a musical collaboration where the aesthetic ties can be overwhelmingly observed. Both Aberration and Diabolic Oath clearly draw from the same musical vessels and seem to be cut from the same cloth…

Aberration kicks off this split 7” EP with a new track, which is the first one since their almost 15-minute clocking EP from 2021. In the meantime they have only released a digital-only one-track cover EP (Beherit’s ‘Salomon’s Gate’) in the summer of 2023. But in the mean time the musicians have been busy with their other bands, Annihilation Cult, Nothingness and VoidRot. Some of their releases have also been featured on these pages and especially Annihilation Cult really appealed to my personal tastes. It’s barbaric and savage sound had a bit of a minimalistic character, which contrasts to that of Aberration, although musically they are not miles apart. Basically, this one track, entitled ‘Divinations Of The Flesh’, sounds really close to the 2021-released untitled 10” EP. In just over six minutes the band takes you on a reverb-drenched Black/Death Metal ride that pummels through its 6 minutes in a surprisingly dynamic way. The upbeat parts contrasts strongly to the slow and dragging doomy passages that consequently feels even deeper and darker. If Aberration’s side of this split EP shows anything it is that maybe the musicians have too many bands to be sufficiently focussed on all their creations.

On the flipside there is Diabolic Oath, whose ‘Aischrolatreia’-EP from the fall of 2022 was a thoroughly enjoyable release that felt like a little step up from their debut album released two years before (both by Sentient Ruin Laboratories). Their take on the Black/Death Metal genre is quite similar to that of Aberrant, to even such an extent that if you listen to both song after each other, it would be possible to think they were one and the same band. Yet, upon a closer listen, Diabolic Oath has a bit more of a grinding guitar tone (reminiscent of the genre giants) and halfway of their track, aptly titled ‘Divination Of Wrath’, towards the end of the song they slow down and even welcomes a bit of what could be regarded as melody. Yet, you can rest assured, Diabolic Oath is still the very same band as on their previously released works, the primitive and primal nature of the music is still been felt through and through.