Formed in 2015, Chile's Blood Oath have been a study in patience and persistence. During their first year of existence, the band released a rehearsal recording as well as a two-song promo EP. A couple more years would follow before Blood Oath would release their official debut, an EP titled The Line Between. Initially, that EP would be released domestically on cassette, but later in the year did Unspeakable Axe pick it up for CD release. Here, the then-quintet displayed a brazen mastery of technical death metal, but the darkest and more barbaric extremes of such. If one could imagine Death's Human meeting Sextrash's Sexual Carnage, Blood Oath possessed that potential.
Alas, a hiatus ensued and their lineup pared down to a quartet, but at long last, Blood Oath have arrived with their full-length debut: Lost in an Eternal Silence. Evocatively displayed by its cover artwork courtesy of Daniel Hermosilla / Nox Fragor, Lost in an Eternal Silence is a clandestine plunge into sulfurous, deeply entrenched energies. Upping both the barbarism AND technical wizardry of its EP predecessor, Blood Oath's debut album melds mind-melted songwriting - angular, askew, but somehow surprisingly melodic - with a pitch-black atmosphere and utterly gnarly production. That latter element undeniably separates the Chileans from so many squeaky-clean contemporaries, but make no mistake that their attack is superlative in its precision; it's thankfully/uniquely wrapped in a thick-as-a-brick recording style that suggests an astute understanding of turn-of-the-'90s aesthetics. Cyclonic rhythm work guides the riffing as hauntingly bent leads dot the treacherous landscape, fretless bass eerily often taking center stage, and effects are liberally (and effectively) utilized for further diabolic drama. More than anything, Lost in an Eternal Silence fries synapses with shapeshifting yet always-linear movement, beckoning the listener down into those catacombs...and, if one is of hardy constitution, emerging enlightened.
On evidence of Lost in an Eternal Silence, Blood Oath are a revelation for those into the cultest ends of tech-death. Maniacs of early '90s Sadus, mid-'90s Cenotaph, or especially the works of The Chasm and Stargazer, meet your new gods!
