Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Diocletian - Doom Cult (2009)

There are some truly punishing listening experiences around in the plethora of extreme metal releases that populate the blackened death metal sub-genre in particular.  Here be the home of Portal, Teitanblood and Antediluvian amongst many others, all of whom showcase an unrelenting style of music that defies structure and form and goes for the jugular track-after-track.  To be honest, even after 30+ years of listening to metal I am still not sure of the difference between the term "war metal" and the sound emitted by the likes of Diocletian and we all know how much I hate genre pedantry so feel free to shake your head in silent disgust as I refer to this primitive style of music minus any correct "it" terms.  

New Zealanders Diocletian are a tricky concept for some.  Not in the least due to the fact that the vocalist at the time of Doom Cult (V. Kusabs) has since been convicted of possession and distribution of child pornography.  Sometimes our exploration of the extreme side of music takes us to even darker places than we thought possible unfortunately.  Focussing on the music though, Doom Cult is truly an exploration of unbridled terror done with drums, bass, guitars and some ghastly vocals thrown in for good measure.  If you are looking for any semblance of production values then you are in the wrong place altogether as this has been left outside the door along with discernible vocals, structured riffs and any hope of variation.

This in fact, is probably one of the few occasions all tracks merging into one in a chaotic blur works well.  Everything does get thrown at the wall here and the fetid, gloopy mess that sticks is here for the duration, all thirty-three minutes of it.  There are some more memorable moments when the band adopt a more military style approach to their rhythms here and there but overall, to truly enjoy this record you have to be willing to let it assault you.  There might not be a lot of mastery about the attack but it does not make it any less effective.