Lovingly presented on 180g vinyl, this is a split release from a couple of bands differing in style but with a common theme as inspiration. Said narrative is the biblical resurrection of Christ after spending three days in the tomb and “allegedly” rising from the dead. Inspiration taken from Scorsese’s Last Temptation Of Christ, it follows his spiritual turmoil during these days, prior to his crucifixion. So far so good (or even God), but The Oracle do throw a bit of a curveball into things by presenting their side of the release instrumentally.

This is probably not a huge surprise for anyone who has encountered this Massachusetts based one-man act before, as we did with on previous release ‘Hypogeum.’ Entitled ‘Golgotha’ and divided into the 3 days, the story is left to us to follow electronically. Day I starts in minimal form with a pulsating line and somewhat sorrowful melody before expanding into a cold synthwave diorama with beats sounding like a marriage of styles from John Carpenter to former NiN member and soundtrack composer Charlie Clouser with a bit of recent Gary Numan for good measure. Day II suggests a calm rousing into wakefulness via a brash expansion of sound, with strident motion from drum beats and a multi-layered tumult. Calming with a pulsation running through it and keyboard melody there’s a lot happening and an exploration of motion to keep the listener engaged. Day III suggests a new dawn although trapped in the darkness of a tomb that may not be entirely evident. Strings flutter and life stirs, restrained and near ambient as blood flows like a pulse before a strident and abrasive finale. I found it fairly tricky matching music to the narrative here but aside from that, it does sound fantastic and lovers of electronica should certainly appreciate on the musical merits here. I noted that The Oracle recently played a show with USBM pioneers Krieg as well as popping over to the UK for shows. More on that later…

The flip side is provided by UK based Reign A.D. a project of Neil McCathie who is also involved in Spider God. This time we get vocals, not that they are particularly distinguishable and a much more blackened template to work with. If anything themes are even denser and their ‘New Jerusalem’ tracks look at the tragic Gladiolus and his contempt at God having struck down his wife Aethelia. With rites and resurrection, necromancy and abandonment of faith all in the mix there’s a lot to take in and those wanting further info should take a look at the Repose Records link below for further knowledge.

If The Oracle was the heaven, this is certainly the hell as the five tracks move from the spoken parts and gently tapping drums of ‘And They Will Reign Forever’ to the blackened distempered rasps and noise rock guitar shred of ‘A Shadow Flickers Overhead.’ Once the melody hits on the second number though one can hang onto it by the coattails and bounce along to the gnarly and thrashy tumult and it’s a strong banger of a number. ‘The Vipers Knot’ is a gloomier affair and one can feel the confrontational tones beseeching the heavens for the aforementioned loss. The overall assault from the single member is a formidable one. The strength of the material speaks for itself. There’s a bit of Dissection to ‘Silk And Shadows’ before it moves into Middle Eastern sounding motifs and even if tying it into the overall concept is not at first a simple task, the songs are easy and enjoyable to engage with.
With a flurry of activity in the form of singles, EP’s and splits since 2019, Reign A.D. are a new discovery as far as I am concerned but this has certainly peaked my interest.

Complete with striking artwork ‘The Mountain Peaks Of Prophecy’ is a work which apparently took a long time to put together and the sheer depth of this is evident. Delve in at the following links and divine enlightenment may well be discovered.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/theoraclema

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100085271571546

https://reposerecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-mountain-peaks-of-prophecy

https://www.reposerecords.com/products/the-mountain-peaks-of-prophecy-vinyl