The long awaited debut record of Portuguese epic melodic death-metal Dark Oath is finally here! “When Fire Engulfs The Earth” is the result of several years of work and line-up changes, and it was worth all the trouble. The band has shown just how much they have matured in terms of songwriting, lyrics and composition. Dark Oath are sounding better than ever!
The album goes around an epic tale about Ragnarok’s prophecy (which is, in case you don’t know, the end of the world according to Norse mythology) and every song is like a chapter of that story. The lyrics are carefully mastered in order to tell this tale in the best way possible.The album starts off with a melodic and well crafted intro, that works as a call to arms for what is to come, “Land Of Ours”, and describes well the ambience of the record, so you know what to expect from the start.
Quality wise, this record is rather homogenous, although you can easily tell the songs apart from each other since the first listening, for they all have a slightly unique identity without diverting further from the style, which is good. Tracks like “Battle Sons”, “When Fire Engulfs The Earth” or “Vengeful Gods” are the ones who stand out the most. However some of the tracks its selves might seem a bit too long due to the amount of flourishes and somewhat repetitive details, like it happens on the song “Brothers Fall”. Yes they are masterful and show how much they have grown technical-wise, albeit being a bit too much at times.
In the end, this is a very solid release, although some fine tuning would be welcomed in the future. Dark Oath shows a great deal of potential and talent, demonstrating that they have come a long way since the early days and that they have seemingly found their own sound and identity within their most epic/folkish influences.
