If there is some movie director out there looking for music during a graveyard ritual scene, then I would hesitate to recommend Marca Diaboli’s debut EP, “Labyrintomb.” The music conjured up by this Chilean/Austrian post-punk/death rock outfit sounds like it was recorded in some underground crypt where ghouls and goblins dwell.
Working with Sentient Ruin, Marca Diaboli is going to be releasing their 2025 EP on vinyl for the first time with a release date of September 11th, 2026. I think Marca Diaboli is a perfect addition to the Sentient Ruin family, especially considering how the music takes on a variety of different sounding elements. The band’s sound builds heavily off of this catchy horror themed rock/post-punk style, but also incorporates some hardcore punk and slight black metal touches. Some might also hear a fair amount of deathrock influence, but I think Marca Diaboli does a solid job breaking away from being just another run of the mill deathrock band by coming up with some diverse sounding riff arrangements.
Overall, the five songs on this album sound tremendously solid and I do not think there was one weak track out of them. From the opening song, “Digging Graves,” the band offers up these morbidly catchy sounding rock riffs. I thought the guitar tone throughout the song vividly stood out and the guitars parts even have this haunting surf rock sound at times. The band offers up a more classic post-punk fueled sounding with the second track, “Nightfalls,” but still hammers out these insanely hypnotic rhythms. Also, I think singer’s voice perfectly fits the music and adds to the occult horror lyrical themes that almost feel like they could be used in a Hammer Horror film.
The third track, “Arsonists,” starts out with a blazing riff that eventually transitions into a slower and more sinister direction. To add to the catacomb dwelling sonic landscape, there are some spooky organ noises thrown into the arrangement, thus creating a truly nightmarish sounding musical realm. On the fourth song, “Manifest,” I could hear more of a raw hardcore punk style at first, yet when the vocals kick in the music takes on a more ghastly blackened post-punk vibe. The finally track, "The Last Nail," is a surrealistic ending with a variety of haunting and chaotic sounds to put the final touches on this horrifying sonic epitaph. Once again, the hypnotic riffs provide this utterly captivating quality that casts a spell over you as the music marches on toward the darkened oblivion.
For anyone who happens to be a fan of post-punk, deathrock and fiendish sounding rock music, I’d recommend checking out Marca Diaboli’s debut EP, “Labyrintomb.” The overall sound and production of this release is extremely solid with my only complaint being that I wish there were a couple more songs. At times, I wanted to keep hearing more of the riffs because they were hands down insanely catchy. Also, huge shoutout to Sentient Ruin for bringing more attention to this act as well as putting out the EP on vinyl. I would definitely welcome Marca Diaboli and Sentient Ruin working together on more releases in the future. So for all you people out there that are into this type of music, make sure to go order yourself a copy as you’d rather give your money to hard working creative artists like Marca Diaboli than some nitwit cosplaying as a goth doing TikTok videos and selling photos of their feet.
Check out the full release below:
Link to where you can order the album:
https://sentientruin.bandcamp.com/album/labyrintomb
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