(c) David Joseph Silver
Los Angeles is everything but sunshine. Know that O Zorn! only too good and want to capture exactly this experience on record. Catastrophic conditions lurk in the shade of the palm trees, and the quartet’s sound, somewhere between post metal, sludge and doom, reflects exactly that. For their latest caper „Vermillion Haze“ It also drew inspiration from the adversity of recent years, from grief and loss, from hopelessness and the attempt to embrace a better future.
“Never Saw It Coming” is one of the personally colored tracks with a tragic background that drags itself through the scene with nervous energy. Bill Kielty’s gripping vocals, coupled with the ominous sound, create a kind of imaginary bridge between Red Fang and A Pale Horse Named Death – sounds like a contradiction in terms, but knows how to entertain. A wholesome yet oppressive hook peels itself out of the thicket, all around there is a tangle of voices, accompanied by peculiar rhythms and a lot of soul searching. The look behind the human facade sounds as uncomfortable and anti-forgiving as possible – a happening of a song.
At the end of the album there is another treat lurking with “Ricochet”. Oh wrath! only get going slowly while the guitar strikes dark tones – an unpleasant experience that leads into doomy depths, but at the same time promotes swampy riffing. An almost sacred experience is confronted with spiritual disappointment, which is at least as entertaining as the fat, oppressive “New Suffer”. Here the quartet almost tries to create something like a groove, permeated by manic shock waves and bathing in a sea of heaviness. Massive walls of sound threaten to overwhelm the inner workings, while the melodic beginnings are impossible to ignore.
Behind these supposed contradictions lies a gripping, unpleasant and yet so attractive album. Oh wrath! live and breathe the darkness of existence, plunge down abysses of disappointment with growing enthusiasm and always find a cautiously shimmering light at the end of the emotional tunnel. “Vermillion Haze” is fundamentally in post-metal territory and yet is so much more in the most pleasant way. Doomy sludge, gothic approaches, majestic riffs and bitter sweetness cavort in the mud of being and skilfully dissect the underbelly. That O Wrath! are not much bigger for a long time, which is actually a disgrace.
Rating: 8/10
Available from: March 15, 2024
Available via: Hard Drugs / Seeing Red Records
Website: www.ozornrocks.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ozornrocks
Category: Magazin, Reviews