Last month, Diatheke wowed us with "The Promise," the lead single from their long awaited full-length album, …And The Word Was God. The song proved that the band had the staying power to back up the potential their previous singles had shown. On the way to the album's release on March 21, the metal masterminds are dropping one more single to whet our appetites.

"The Creator" is the second single, but it's also the album's opening track. Amazingly, the song works expertly in both of those roles. First, lyrically, it goes over the seven days in which God created the universe, which is the perfect place to begin a concept album based on the Bible. Of course, it rightfully begins with God's existence as He creates light ("Light, for I AM / illumination pierces the void / light and darkness separate / creatio ex nihilo"). A thesaurus may come in handy once or twice, as vocalist Peter Watson screams and growls grandiose descriptions of God's acts of creation ("Soil and seed awakened / endless verdure animates across a triune sylvan tapestry / solar resplendence disunites from night"). The song reverently comes from God's perspective and does justice to His desire to share His glory with mankind.

Second, musically, "The Creator" feels like it could've been one of the band's standalone singles. It's another lengthy track, but the band fills it up with the incredibly tight progressive death metal stand we come to expect. And "progressive" it is, refusing to copy and paste a verse-chorus-verse structure, opting instead to cover a lot of different musical ground as the story unfolds. Yes, it's heavy, between Watson's intense vocals, Dallas McNeely's massive guitar riffs, and the fantastic low end and percussion from John and Michael Osborn. But there's also some really pretty piano early on this song, as well as a victorious section near the end where violins precede some soaring clean vocals declaring "It is well, it is good." The song is wild, diverse, and - quite frankly - flawless.

It's hard to believe that the wait for Diatheke's debut LP is finally (almost) over. If you loved "The Promise," you'll also love "The Creator." While you're listening, head on over to their Bandcamp and pre-order …And The Word Was God, because it gets even better from here.

- Review date: 2/5/25, written by Scott Fryberger of Jesusfreakhideout.com

 Record Label: Rottweiler Records
 Album length: 1 track: 9 minutes, 3 seconds
 Street Date: February 14, 2025
 Buy It: Bandcamp

1. The Creator (9:03)