The Oath - The Oath (CD Review)

01.All Must Die
02.Silk Road
03.Night Child
04.Leaving Together
05.Black Rainbow
06.Silver And Dust
07.Death Delight
08.In Dream
09.Psalm 7

Johanna Sadonis (Vocals)
Linnea Olsson (Guitar)
Simon Bouteloup (Bass)
Andrew Prestidge (Drums)

In 2012, Swedish guitarist Linnea Olsson – known from underground darlings Sonic Ritual – left Stockholm to seek inspiration in the mythically rebellious and decadent city of Berlin. A punk guitarist at heart, her riffs are to the point, driven by a dark but catchy undercurrent, and her influences range from Slash to Fast Eddie Clarke to Steve Jones to Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin.Johanna Sadonis, a native Berliner, grew up on her parents’ diet of Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones. As a teenager, she became immersed in the extreme metal scene, robbing graveyards and sneaking into mortuaries to the soundtrack of Scandinavian death and black metal. After stints as a singer in several bands, and living in Norway and Los Angeles, she returned to Berlin and founded the infamous Kill ‘Em All club – single-handedly supplying the city with the best old school metal in the world.

After having met only once, things fell into place with instant magic. Johanna and Linnéa set out to create a hard rock band that would be raw, exciting, dark, dirty, catchy and loud. Naming some of their main influences Danzig, Black Sabbath, The Runaways, Dio, Celtic Frost, Motorhead and classic NWOBHM, the music is a perfect mix of 1970’s and 1980’s heavy rock and metal. Lyrically they center their material to topics of death, doom, drugs and the dream realm.

The now sold out debut 7” single earned them the title of “Band of the Week” by underground connoisseur Fenriz of Darkthrone. In August The Oath went to Studio Cobra in Stockholm together with Parisian bassist Simon Bouteloup (Kadavar, ex- Aqua Nebula
Oscillator) and UK drummer Andrew Prestidge (Angel Witch, Winters), where they recorded 9 tracks for their debut album.

Tracks 1 to 7 are an amazing 70's sounding mixture of hard rock meets the runaways only the pace is slowed down by 'In Dream' which is just an acoustic interlude.

The stand out track for me is 'Psalm 7', a slow start with a haunting vocal, but this one builds into gothic rock and then stunning rock with a beat that reminds me of Hearts 'Barracuda'.

Rating 9/10
For fans Of : Heart, The Runaways, Viking Skull, Purson