Band:	Oath To Vanquish
Album:	Applied Schizophrenic Science
Style:	Black metal, Death metal
Release date:	2006
A review by:	Herzebeth

01. Pear Of Anguish
02. Dearly Beheaded
03. Funeral In F Sharp
04. Executive Onslaught
05. Toxic Bowel Manoeuvre
06. Sulphuric Semen
07. Symptoms Of Accrued Transgression
08. Sorrow In Adornment
09. Coat-Hanger Massacre

What is the main factor that turns a decent album into a magnificent one? Mainly the songs found in it, when a normal release (say with 10-13 tracks) has nothing but great songs it's a masterpiece, when you find 8 good tracks then you have a very good album, but if the album stands just for 5 or less tracks it becomes just decent or even average; Oath To Vanquish gave me 2 of the most amazing songs I've ever heard in extreme music, the complex songwriting impressed me badly, the tempo shifts were incredible and the structures were really tight and solid, but sadly there were only 2 songs delivering those features.

It's not that the rest of the tracks were utter crap or bad, but when a band is capable to deliver 6 minutes (each song) of almost progressive Death/Black metal in its most powerful and incredible form, it's really disappointing when the rest of the tracks are just the average constructions that any other band could have offered. These Lebanese guys have great ideas no doubt, but they seriously need to improve their songwriting to exploit their potential to the max, they have what it takes to release a masterpiece, but the audience needs more funerals in F sharp and more coat hanger massacres to finally fall for the music and say "wow the whole album crushed my brains out!"

In the end this is a good album none the less, and I'll surely keep an eye on the band for further works in the future. Give it a try if you love hostile and dark metal with shivering vocals, but if you're looking for the next best thing try somewhere else and give this band a few more years.

Best Tracks: "Funeral In F Sharp", "Coat Hanger Massacre"