In a long overdue return, Portugal's THE OMINOUS CIRCLE rise again from the mist with their sophomore album "Cloven Tongues of Fire," a deeper descent into the great, endless chasms. A maelstrom of fire and relentless chaos that defies everything in this age of empty standards and sterile paradigms, the new full-length effort represents their darkest, most intense and uncompromising manifest to date, both a witness to the wickedness of iniquity and a tribute to the arts of the extreme. The album has seven songs, and the short introduction titled "Thus Beckons the Abyss" is first. Much of it stays under the radar for its short run time. "Lowest Immanations" is next, and it comes out of the gate with a thick, dark, and contentious sound, built mostly from the concrete slab of the riff. The slow, crawling pace is augmented with guttural vocals, and pig squeals abound.

"Through Tunnels Ablaze" moves faster and is fueled by fast picked riffs and drums that fire like a machine gun. The band keeps the sound steady, low, and as dark as possible. They also use heavy doses of bass guitar. "In Ira Flammae Devoratur Qui Salvatur" is another short interlude that connects the first half of the album with the second. It has a frightful, harrowing sound. "Black Flesh, Sulfur, and All in Between" is a dreadful affair, burying the sound as deep into the bowels of the earth as possible. It moves slowly, like a centipede slithering and stalking his prey. "Writhing, Upturning, Succumbing" is a darker offering, and it seems the band is cueing a bit more on their Black Metal side than their Death Metal side. The vocals are filthy, and the music is just as gritty. They also flex some of their musicianship here, and although subtle, you can grab it.

The lengthy "Utterance of the Formless" is the final song. At just under ten minutes, the band has plenty of time to explore the outer recesses of the underworld, and they do just that. They turn over rocks in the corners, look into deep pools of dark water, and even walk into the fire. It ends unceremoniously, but at the same time, it leaves the listener ready for their next album. Overall, their amalgam of Death and Black Metal was indeed both dark and intense. They build a cocoon of shadows with the deftness of a spider crafting a web and just leave it there to ensnare anyone with a morbid curiosity with their death.