Taking a Latin phrase of religious meaning such as “Domins vobiscum” and adding a satanic connotation may rank as a rather unoriginal and even a little juvenile manner to release naming, yet it is the approach that Douglassville’s own Outer Heaven have adopted for their debut release (excluding their 2013 demo available for download). Not that EP release Diabolus Vobiscum (Melotov) is a laughing matter; far from it.

It is clear that Outer Heaven are not setting out to reinvent the wheel by any stretch but their sound does draw upon several of metal’s poles of extremity. A huge overriding element sees them draw upon the sludgy, rawness of the early death metal greats with in its guttural tone and primal production values. EP opener ‘Lord Of The Void’ highlights their doom streak however with its bluesy, Sabbath like opening bars (even the title sounds like a tribute to the fathers of heavy metal) and continued droning pace, abruptly interjected by a brief blastbeat segment. This sets the tone throughout as the rest of the EP takes on a dark, brooding crawl of a pace with a huge sense of ferocity.

Diabolus Vobiscum may show some signs of cliché and formulas tried and tested by the greats, but this is far from mere aping and hero worship. Outer Heaven on their debut have delivered a very nasty slice of vintage death metal with plenty of replay value, and surely putting them on the map in the underground.

7.0/10

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CHRIS TIPPELL