Oraculum is stepping up a gear.
After three relatively well-received EPs between 2014 and 2018, the Chilean band led by Scourge of God (guitar/vocals, Deathwards, Wrathprayer), Gaius Coronatus (guitar, ex-Deathwards, ex-Executed), Magnified Wrath (bass), and Conqueror of Fear (drums, Wrathprayer) returns in 2026 with the support of Invictus Productions for the release of its first album, Hybris Divina.
A Monument to Fallen Virtues is a rather raw but impressive introduction that allows the band to immediately impose its suffocating atmosphere before accelerating on The Great One, revealing hoarse and furious vocals over an impenetrable rhythm section. A few keyboards and leads sometimes give it a majestic touch, but we savor this furious blast as much as the macabre harmonics before moving on to the aggressive Mendacious Heroism and its faster patterns that testify to the obvious rage at work in this composition. Guitars don’t hesitate to insert moments of dissonance fairly regularly before moving on to Carnage, which lives up to its name and buries us under the blast, letting its jerky rhythm hit us at its pace. The tumultuous progression moves between violence and piercing leads, but the band lets its fury speak before moving on to Dolos, which gives us a moment of respite only to strike back with an agonizing slowness rooted in cavernous doom/death, but the long-awaited acceleration finally takes place, contrasting somewhat with the oppression of the previous moments. The final is much more ferocious, but The Heritage of Our Brotherhood once again slows things down with some children’s laughter followed by a very solemn tone in both the vocals and the rhythm section. However, Spiritual Virility quickly regains its momentum and charges forward with a thick sound followed by virulent screams and then sharp leads. The track is undoubtedly one of the most massive on the album, but it is Posthumous Exultation that takes on the role of finisher, first plunging us into darkness and anguish before returning to a more brutal speed, offering hoarse roars and tortured leads that mark the last eruption before the silence that finally descends.
Absence has been good for Oraculum, who have returned in full force with a handful of new compositions featuring ferocious riffs. Hybris Divina is far too raw for many of us, but those who appreciate its harshness will be treated to forty minutes of pure violence.
80/100
