Review: Diabolus - Wasted Air (2-Track EP) [2015]

 Every now and again, I am fortunate to get my blog noticed simply via the wonders of the internet and a bit of facebook promotion. Recently, I got sent a 2 track EP by Diabolus. Hailing from Andover, UK, Diabolus play a mixture of first wave black metal and death metal with just a hint of hardcore reminiscent of bands like Liar and Arkangel.

   The title track, which already starts off sounding like a very professional recording with a spooky sample of, what sounds like, a dripping tap, creaking doors, girl screams and some intense build up music, is about 4 minutes of pure evil. For those into black metal and death metal, this is familiar territory. Vocalist Luke (if indeed it his him doing all parts) supplies brutal low pitched growls and the slightly more "possessed by the devil" style shrieking. It's so good that it makes you wonder if he's actually Scandinavian. There's fast riffing (Adam - lead guitar, Tim - rhythm guitar) and thunderous drumming (Kurt - drums), as is signature of death metal, but there is also slow heavy grooves, including a pretty heavy "beatdown" and a keyboard accompanied melodic section near the end. The melodic part, instead of making them sound like any other black metal band, is more reminiscent of an old British band called As She Screams, who used to incorporate keyboard into their mixture of death metal and hardcore.
  Second track, The Bay Harbour Butcher, starts off soft and melodic but then the blasts and growling join in and it's a scary ride from there on. As well as sounding far more black metal than Wasted Air throughout most of it, it also keeps in with modern metalcore, with the use of a slow, simple yet effective spacious groove which would make some people want to break things.

There's definitely something here which is a bit new compared to other bands out there, at least as far as I'm aware. As well as being perfectly suited to a black, grind or death metal show, they have something about them that would also go down well with hardcore fans, especially those of the early more metallic European sound. This EP is brutal and just polished enough to sound both professional and gritty at the same time. Although this isn't what I'm normally into and I'm not 100% taken in by the name, I'm hoping the band get themselves an album out soon and more people will become aware of Diabolus.

4/5