Warthur Doomy female-led occult rock is a legitimate bandwagon these days, but there's more than enough variation in the scene to justify the proliferation of bands in this general area. Take, for instance, one-album wonders The Oath, who in their brief life put out this single album. The Oath occupy a hinterland between hard rock and traditional heavy metal, with doom and psych influences both on subject matter and on their riffs, with lead vocalist Johanna Sadonis and lead guitarist Linnéa Olsson giving high-grade performances all round. Sadonis now fronts Lucifer, ploughing a very similar furrow, but whatever exploits she gets up to in future will have to hit a pretty high mark to match what she and Olsson accomplish here.

Time Signature Silver and dust...

Genre: hard rock / doom metal

The Swedish/German doom rock act The Oath released a single in 2013 which was critically acclaimed for its raw and dark hard rock style and incorporation of doom metal elements. This was definitely a band with much potential and much hope for the future. In April 2014, they released their debut album "The Oath", which has received excellent reviews and much praise. And what happens? A month after its release - a fucking month! - the band splits up! That's a WTF moment if there ever was one.

And the reason can't be artistic failure of the album or poor reception, because people love the album and it's a damn good one. Delivering dark and dirty hard rock, The Oath treats the listener to well wrought occult rock music which showcases Linnéa Olsson's dirty guitar riffs and Johanna Sadonis' expressive and soulful vocals. From the aggressive 'All Must Die' over the doom-laden 'Silk Road' and the punky 'Black Rainbow' to the dark yet epic, 'Psalm 7, the listener drawn further and further into the dark universe of The Oath thanks to Olsson's simplistic and compelling riffs and an overall dynamic performance.

The production is not polished, but has a raw and retro feel, which suits the music itself very well. The songs themselves are well written and well performed and they leave the listener wanting more... but that just ain't gonna happen, is it?!?

Well, that just makes it so much more important to go out and buy this album, which is recommended if you like Danzig, Graveyard, Noctem, Witchfinder General and Pentagram.