The Ominous Circle — Cloven Tongues of Fire

Aeons away from the lo-fi terror and speedy chaos of death metal's genesis, bands like The Ominous Circle make the most out of nearly forty years of growth and experimentation, crafting a finely tuned metal machine with each part specifically placed and tuned in with technical precision. From the opening feedback manipulation of "Thes Beckons The Abyss" to the pulverizing final moments of "Utterance of the Formless," Cloven Tongues of Fire is another notch in death metal's legitimacy headboard, continuing to prove that it's a genre to be taken seriously by not only musicians, but those who have misunderstood its aim and scope. While not as technically bewildering as something like Archspire, The Ominous Circle weave and form well-crafted, intriguing metal with thick layers, varied tempos, and fun uses of dissonance. Eschewing the all-out assault that has come to mark extreme metal, Tongues moves and grows as each song requires, breathing life into each unique creation, bringing the pieces together as a coherent and vibrant whole. Taking some tones and tuning from black metal, adding a few dashes of doomy delight, and always playing with skill, strength, and intent, the album pummels forth with fervour and grace, all while keeping that challenging death metal edge. With complex, churning albums like Tongues, the extended song lengths are necessary for the structure to form, the tension and dissonance to build, and the artist's expression to reach fruition. An eight-minute Cannibal Corpse song about knives ending up in the private parts of the deceased would be far too much, but The Ominous Circle are crafting something very different and well worth the time involved (no Cannibal Corpse hate here, believe me). Not only does the album hold up to intense, investigative listens, the speed, layers, and tonal qualities also allow it to work well in the background as one types, draws, drafts, or does household chores. Clove Tongues of Fire is a very well-arranged, written, and performed album.

 

To the outsider, death metal is fast, formless, and frivolous, devoid of artistic merit and aimed at those who just love it loud. While some of that may be true, it's never without purpose, and the genre is better for having such a wide variety of forms, functions, and techniques. Cloven Tongues of Fire fits in well with the trend of denser, longer, dissonant works that have been more prevalent in the past decade or so (in my opinion), and these pieces help to add more dimension to an ever-growing genre. With this being their sophomore release, we can hope that The Ominous Circle continue to grow and inspire with future releases.