OK let’s address this quickly first. They use a “v” instead of a “u”. Aaaargh. This much is troooooooo I know I know I know this much is trooooooo!  

Right, that is out of the way – onto the tunes. Dark, drugged out Satanic Black Doom is how they are described – and that is pretty bloody accurate. These mysterious Norwegians plug a gap between Electric Wizard and the much missed Hang the Bastard. They mix up psychedelic, cult/occult vibes with crusty blackened nastiness atop riffs so fucking ragged and barbed that my ears were ripped as they entered.   

There are 6 tracks on offer here (of course there are!) and I gotta say I love each and every one, with each of the diabolical ditties offering something a little different, yet still remaining true to the filthy ambience of its satanic siblings. 

“Alter Obscene” opens with the ubiquitous Hammer (?) clip calling for a witch hunter [Ken Russell’s The Devils actually editor] and then it is time to submit to an almighty fuzzy riff. Sludgy, doomy dark and dramatic is the order of the day with thunderous drums and quite frankly filthy rasped vocals , this is summat to make Hopkins run for cover. Towards the end of the track a nun tries to exorcise the Beast and receives a psychedelic guitar solo in response which has a tonne of groove within it.  

“Devil Doll” has a mighty late 60’s swagger to it with a super sexy riff to get the hips swaying but instead of a velvet voiced West Coast crooner we have our Black metal voiced protagonist sounding like Nocturno Culto. The cry baby wah wah pedal gets a good airing here. Ooooooh baby!  

Then it is time for a simply crushing Doom monster. “Omega XIII” pummels and caresses in equal measure. Huge brontosaurus riffs and drums like Mammoth footsteps this would send any false metal wannabe scurrying to their cave. The guitar leads rain down like asteroids setting light to vegetation to send plumes of acrid greenish smoke skyward. Somewhere the vocalist is riding a stegosaurus into a volcano. Yeah. That’s it.  Ya get me?  

“Children of Haze” is a slow groover – imagine Uncle Acid played on half speed. Trippy manipulation of sonics add to the bad trip atmosphere whilst the riff and drums just keep on powering through like wrecking balls slamming into tar.  

“Sodomizing with Satan” – is the Lord of Flies a top or a bottom do you think? A crafty reach-around giver or a lustful selfish sod who cares not for their partners pleasure? Well, perhaps this is the saucy composition to test out the Morning Star’s sensual moves. It’s a dirty bump and grind of a track with a distorted guitar lead throughout firing like a male concubine at a Roman orgy. No vocals here just some samples, growls and Hammond tinkling.  

As the end looms nearer through the haze and fog there is just “Merciful Lord” standing between my ears and the emptiness that will follow this filth. Luckily there is 10 minutes of it to wallow in and wallow I do. Filthy, gargantuan riffs are unleashed and then drowned by unflinching drums and Lord Mortvm’s deliciously salacious guitar licks. This makes losing your mind sound like fun! 

(8/10 Matt Mason)  

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https://lordmortvm.bandcamp.com/album/diabolical-omen-of-hell