Album Type: EP
Date Released:
28/11/2014
Label: Svart Records
‘A
Treatise On Resurrection And The Afterlife’ CD/LP track listing:
1). The
Science of the Afterlife (06:58)
2). The
Resurrection of Animals (04:47)
3). Time Drift
of Seasons (03:21)
4). A Seas Without
Shore (05:23)
Bio:
"Bog Oak
formed in October 2013 around the core of Phillip Gallagher and Matthew Woods
Wilhoit, who both lived in the Sacramento area. They met when Gallagher
answered an ad placed by Wilhoit looking for someone to jam with. The pair
bonded over their mutual love of heavy metal, tube amplifiers, and occult
philosophy, writing the songs 'A Shepard’s Teeth for a Winter’s Coat' and
'Dragger' during their first jam session with Gallagher on drums and Wilhoit on
guitar.
"After
recording these songs at Earth Tone Studios in Rocklin, California, with
session bassist Robert Lander, the pair decided to shop their demo around and
place an ad for a vocalist. Julie Seymour responded, and got the job after one
audition: Gallagher and Wilhoit were impressed with her ability to switch back
and forth between black metal screams and ethereal clean singing.
"After a
few rehearsals, Gallagher, Wilhoit, and Seymour entered Earth Tone Studios to
add vocals to the first two songs and record two new songs, 'Behold, The Valley
Of Slaughter' and 'Experiments In Extinction' with Gallagher and Wilhoit
sharing bass duties. To achieve a fuller live sound and to expand the harmonic
possibility within Bog Oak, Gallagher switched from drums to baritone guitar
after recruiting drummer and longtime friend Steven Campbell. Wilhoit recruited
longtime friend DBC to act as bassist for live performances.
"Conceptually,
Bog Oak embrace all things occult, pulling inspiration from a wide range of
esoteric ideas like those of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Aleister Crowley, and
Laveyan Satanism, to the ideas of more extremist occult groups like the O9A and
the Temple Of Black Light, into the more mystical concepts of Pythagoras, the
metaphysics of Mulla Sadra, Suhrawardi’s philosophy of illumination, and the
alchemy of Al-Ghazali."
The
Band:
Julie Seymour
| Vocals
Phillip Gallagher | Guitars, Bass
Steve Campbell | Drums
Phillip Gallagher | Guitars, Bass
Steve Campbell | Drums
Review
Today,
I find myself preparing to listen to ‘A Treatise On Resurrection And The
Afterlife’, by a band known as Bog Oak. Given the name of the group, I expect
some filthy sounding sludge (perhaps they should play a show with Swamp
Witch?), which is always good, but then, my predictions do not always pan out.
This review is largely a first impression, as I'm writing as I'm listening to
the songs for the first time.
The
first song, "The Science of the Afterlife" opens in classic
doom/sludge fashion with feedback and a single, filthy sounding guitar. Almost
immediately, though, the song takes an unexpected turn, as the whole band comes
in with a surprisingly fast riff. Soon after, the vocalist makes her presence
known, and does not disappoint. Julie's growls remind me vaguely of both Laurie
Sue from Ludicra, and the late Tristessa of Astarte. After a brutishly heavy
section, the vocals switch to a clean singing style, about halfway through the
song, the vocal style not quite crooning, but not operatic either. Shortly
thereafter, the band returns to their previous pace before descending once
more, at the conclusion, to an almost march-like staccato pummelling. A great
opening track, though if I have one criticism, it feels a little too short to
me. But then, I tend to like my heavy music long and drawn out.
This
band seems full of unexpected turns, as "The Resurrection of Animals"
opens with a much different riff than anything heard in the opener, the full
band coming in with a syncopated drum beat. The style so far is somewhat
reminiscent of Black Cobra, except heavier due to there being, it sounds like,
bass on this album. Just under three minutes into "Resurrection," the
band pauses, and the furious pace set before (if anything, even faster than the
opener), is dropped in favor of massive sounding chords with a haunting guitar
lead high above them. This lead is replaced by equally eerie clean vocals from
Julie, and overall it's almost as if this section is in answer to a
hypothetical question "what if Ludicra had played doom metal?" I
suppose I should note here, that Ludicra (who sadly broke up a few years ago)
put out some of my favorite black metal. Again, if anything, I wish this ending
section were longer, as it's fantastic, and I'm guessing that it'll remain
stuck in my head for quite a while.
Unlike
the previous two songs, "Time Drift of Seasons" does not open with a
lone guitar. The whole band comes in with a crushingly heavy riff, though the
feel (albeit not the triplet tempo) slows down for clean singing sections that
seem to be choruses, before a quiet guitar interlude prefacing an even heavier
riff. I wondered how they were going to follow the haunting outro of the
previous song, but so far this is some of the best songwriting on the record,
and the vocal work further demonstrates that Julie really knows what she's
doing, as the singing on this music is incredible. Sadly, it's the shortest
song so far. But, again, I'm biased, and would probably listen to this song
over and over again even if it were twice or even three times as long.
Concluding
the release is "A Sea Without Shore." This album opens with what
sounds like some sort of Indian or east Asian instrument... I wish I could
identify it just by sound, but I can't, as I admit my knowledge is
unfortunately somewhat lacking in that area. The slow riff that follows is
suitably heavy, and if anything, combined with the vocals, sets for a deeply
mournful atmosphere. The first time I listen to music, I generally don't pay
close attention to lyrics, but rather just to the overall sound. The title of
this song is quite appropriate, in that sense, as it brings to my mind unending
vastness and one's own insignificance in the face of the universe. The clean
vocals give way at the end to growls similar to those of Nathan Misterek from
Graves at Sea and Laudanum, upping the intensity of the song. Great track,
though, this is becoming a bit of a refrain in this review, I feel it could be
longer.
On
second listen, the record as a whole is well put together, structurally. As I
can't read minds, I've no idea if the song order was intentional or just a
happy accident. I'm inclined to think the former, however. The overall feel
somewhat mirrors that of the individual songs themselves. Through the album,
there is a general movement towards slower tempos and heavier riffing, while
vocally there is more and more clean singing as the album progresses. I would
add, that in my own subjective opinion, the music gets better and better with
every song. I expect that upon further listens I'll notice more subtleties as
well.
The
sound itself is very good, which is always somewhat surprising for an
underground band, and the entire mix sounds massive, especially the guitars,
but it is also very well balanced for a metal album. Nice work there.
As
for criticisms... well, my main issue with this record is, and given my earlier
comments, this will not come as a surprise... the songs could be longer.
"Time Drift of Seasons" especially I think is just too short. Admittedly,
even in doom, it is better to leave the listener/audience wanting more than to
wear out your welcome, and perhaps Bog Oak wanted to make sure the songs were
tight with no unnecessary material, but I feel that as strong as the work on
this record is, they could expand things a bit in future compositions without
much risk of getting repetitive. This is especially the case because the slower
parts are, in my opinion, the most powerful parts of the record. I like that
Bog Oak vary their tempos quite a bit, though. Contrast keeps things
interesting. Though, again, I would point out that while this is a criticism,
it may be very much due to my own biases when it comes to this style, because
as mentioned, I tend to listen most to longer, more drawn out, slower stuff.
And this criticism is relatively minor. All of the music on this record is
good, I just wish there were more of each song.
An
additional, albeit minor positive, is the cover art. I love it. Very nicely
done. Clearly this band pays attention to the little details. On a 1-10 scale,
I would give ‘A Treatise On Resurrection And The Afterlife’ about... a strong
7, I'm thinking. If you like Black Cobra, Stoneburner, Dark Castle, Ludicra,
and Graves at Sea, you should definitely check out Bog Oak. I'm looking forward
to hearing them play live with Graves at Sea, soon, and I'll be very interested
to hear future releases by them.
Words by: Dan Brownson
For
more information:
