Review by Felix on October 4, 2026.

M-A celebrates more than 200,000 bands, but is this really a good thing? Or do we drown in an enormous ocean of mediocrity and lose the skill to see the beacons of the scene? Either way, I admit that I am not familiar with the debut of The Ominous Circle, but due to the fact that there are eight years between their first sign of life and "Cloven Tongues Of Fire", this is hopefully forgivable. Less excusable is the pretty monotonous appearance of the here reviewed album.

The band from Portugal delivers almost pure death metal with all its well-hung ingredients. Especially the predominantly growling vocals and the low-tuned guitars give this work its character – and I doubt that this is very exciting. Members of the death metal family will celebrate a genre party, but I am somewhat tired in view of the many mid-tempo sequences and, even worse, I don't like the non-ignorable feeling that we have heard this kind of music a thousand times before. Okay, the band paints a picture of total cataclysm and the dudes pursue their goal persistently. I also can say that one gets more or less access to their horrible world of sound after the first spins. But all in all, they focus only on the most massive form of musical brutality and that is not enough. I miss a few catchy elements, I miss an expressive melody line from time to time and I miss different atmospheres.

"Cloven Tongues Of Fire" is like a meeting with the devil who says "you're gonna die right now", but three days later you wonder that you are still alive. Clear message, no effect. It's regrettable, because I am sure that the dudes do not lack passion and ambition. Perhaps they are even overly ambitious – the album consists mainly of five long, pretty complex songs. It is a pity, but none of them develops an undeniable individuality. A little more courage to embrace simplicity and brevity, and the full-length would certainly have been a different caliber. But we have to live with what we are given and this is an adequately produced work which is filled to the brim with the maximum of violence. A few good moments shimmer through the inferno, because the guitarists have a nice idea every now and then. Nevertheless, the target group for the album is probably small – especially in a world with more and more bands.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10