Savage Oath had caught my attention last year with their self-titled EP which may have had only two compositions but it left a lot of promises for the future. So, when the news about the release of their debut album arrived at my doorstep I immediately rushed to listen.
Savage Oath is made up of members of bands making a relative splash for some time now in the USPM scene. We have Brendan Radigan on vocals (Summerlands, Stone Dagger and generally everything epic), Leeland Campana on guitars (Visigoth), Phil Ross on bass (Manilla Road, Iron Sword) and Austin Wheeler on drums who is the most recent addition to the band. All of them have more or less put their stamp on our favorite scene in the last years, at least on an underground level.
Seeing these names, the material of the album is not surprising. Enjoyable USPM with plenty of epic doses and a lot of eye winking at the European scene. All this creates a unique result, music where power and melody go hand in hand. On one hand we have compositions like “Blood For The King” and “Savage Oath” that have everything we loved about the US sound. On the other hand, we have tracks like “Wings Of Vengeance” that would be the envy of many European acts. We have “Smoke At Dawn” which is a… synth ambient retro track that could be the soundtrack of an 80s sword & dagger movie. As for the excellent title track, it’s one of the most beautiful acoustic songs I’ve heard in a long time.
But all the compositions are worked to perfection. Listening to the songs over and over again I discovered little beautiful details that embellish the sound of the band. Brendan Radigan with his unique voice is slowly but surely emerging as a new hero behind the mic for USP.
“Divine Battle” sets the bar to unimaginable heights. I dare to talk about an album that is a definite candidate for the best of the year. Good news for fans of the sound!
