I wasn’t familiar with Deus Sabaoth before this album, which is probably why Distortion of Lies ended up being a pleasant surprise.
The Ukrainian project released its second full-length at the end of May, and while plenty of melodic black metal records pass through my headphones every year, this one managed to stick around longer than most.
What kept bringing me back wasn’t the aggression. In fact, the album isn’t particularly aggressive by black metal standards. The stronger moments come from the atmosphere and the melodies. A lot of riffs here have that slightly melancholic feeling where they’re heavy enough to carry the song but melodic enough to stay in your head afterwards.
I noticed that especially on “Tree of Knowledge”. That track probably sums up the album better than any other. There’s a sadness running through it, but it never turns completely hopeless. The same thing happens later on with “For There Will Be Dawn”, which ended up being one of my favourites after a couple of listens.
The violin works surprisingly well too (“For There Will Be Dawn”). Normally that’s the sort of thing that can go wrong very quickly in black metal, but here it feels natural. Nothing sounds forced.
Another thing I appreciated was the pacing. The band don’t rush from one idea to another. The songs are allowed to sit for a while and develop naturally, which helps the atmosphere a lot.
I’m sure people will mention bands like Mgła, Groza or Ellende when talking about Deus Sabaoth, and I can understand why. Still, I never had the feeling I was listening to a clone of something else. The album feels sincere, which is harder to achieve than most people think.
The funny thing is that I wasn’t completely sold on Distortion of Lies after the first listen. The second one changed my mind. By the third spin I was already saving a couple of tracks for later.
Not a bad result for a band’s second album.
https://deussabaoth.bandcamp.com/
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