Deus Sabaoth – Distortion of Lies
Release Date: 29th May 2026
Label: Paragon Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Black Metal, Atmospheric Black Metal.
FFO: Firtan, Ellende, Groza, Mgła, Batushka, Hauntologist, Kvaen.
Review By: Rick Farley
“Distortion of Lies drifts through the fragile architectures we build to protect ourselves from reality. It traces the quiet seduction of belief – whether wrapped in sacred language or stitches together from desperate hope – exposes how easily comfort becomes deception. And beyond the longest night, there will be a dawn, when distortion fades, leaving nothing but what was real all along.”
Ukrainian melodic black metal trio Deus Sabaoth was formed in 2023 and released their first album, Cycle of Death in January 2025. Now just a little less than a year and a half later, they are releasing the newest chapter in their melodic black metal darkness, Distortion of Lies via Paragon Records May 29th, 2026.
Distortion of Lies is a darkly, melancholic burst of grimness. Tons of blasphemous melody and vicious, biting coldness in the charging soundscape. Thudding, powerful drums blast intensely while the growly shrieks pierce through the mix. The volume of the vocals comes across a little on the loud side but also gives the record a distinct personality of discomfort. The record isn’t overly trebly so it’s not too hard on the ears but does get right in your face or rather in your ears and wreaks its devilish havoc with little remorse. Musically the foundation of vein like, spidery riffs contort from fast tremolo picking to sinister guitar lines that twist, sear, and crunch in every direction. The sense of eerie dissonance while still sounding engaged and hooky is impressive. The songs can drift from brutal to a reflective hopelessness all within the same track. Deus Sabaoth is effective at creating emotions.
Despite this being labelled as black metal there’s a decent amount of death metal influence in the way the songs are presented riff wise and also in the vocals. I wouldn’t call this blackened death metal exactly, but there’s undeniable dynamics that limits all the trappings of just being straight black metal. There’s also a considerable amount of gothy elements that brings a gloominess to the record; dramatic orchestration, beautiful piano passages and melancholic background atmospherics all shine as a defining part of the band’s sound. Combine all of the wrathful dreariness with lyrical themes that explore religious criticism, existentialism, nihilism and solitude, and you have a well composed black metal record that doesn’t always completely stay in its lane.
Whether you appreciate that is up to you, but there are a couple of songs that lean, at times, too far out of the shadowy soundscape they’ve created, which gives off out-of-place vibes. That’s not always a bad thing but in this case not everything lands as well as most of the record does. It is in minuscule amounts, and I’m kind of being nitpicky, but it’s worth mentioning. Also sitting at 33 minutes, It feels too short. Again, that’s also a matter of preference.
Overall, Deus Sabaoth has given us a solid record that I enjoyed and will be happy to come back to. It’s not saying anything new, not that it really needs to but there are a lot of bands that sound like this already. It’s a tough crowd to stick out in. However, Distortion of Lies stands as a record that I would recommend to nearly any metalhead, having a listenable quality to it that won’t scare away people that are new to the genre. Worth checking out.
(3.5 / 5)
