By: Mark Ambrose
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 23/02/2018
Label: Midnite Collective |
Graven Earth Records
The escalating tension, heartfelt enthusiasm, and ripping tone coalesce to elevate Oryx’s sophomore record to an early contender for best sludge album of 2018.
“Stolen
Absolution”
CS//CD//DD track listing
1. Intro
2. Blackened Earth
3. Born for Death
4. Abject
5. Interlude
6. Price of a Dollar
7. The World in Ruin
8. Stolen Absolution
The Review:
The two-piece metal group is a risky venture:
for every stellar example that incorporates multiple registers, tones, and
intimate dynamics (Bell Witch, NEST, Obsidian Tongue)
there are a dozen that do not sound like anything except an inept demo tape
(which I politely won’t call out here). Thankfully
Oryx, the Colorado by way of Santa Fe two-piece, fall
solidly into the former group: a balanced collaboration that sounds like a
symphony of savagery. While “Stolen Absolution” is a sophomore
release, this marks their first album as a two-piece – a sort of second debut,
more distinct, assured, and unique than their prior effort,
“Widowmaker”.
The downtuned guitar takes center stage on
this album, augmented by a layer of fuzz that’s thick but not
impenetrable. At the heart of the
maelstrom there are riffs aplenty, gliding between gnarly sludge rhythm guitar
and ethereal, high end leads. Guitarist
& vocalist Tommy infuses a lot of his playing with folksy twang, crafting a
distinctly American take on blackened sludge.
But when he pulls back from the shimmering dulcimer-reminiscent elegies,
the sour sludge pouring from the speakers is skin peeling filth. Drummer Abbey serves as a propulsive force
throughout the record – her feel for steady rhythm eschews flash without
sounding simplistic. The blast beats are
fierce without falling into the weird idiosyncrasies of timing that befall
lesser drummers, while the tribal might on tracks like “Abject” is as menacing as the drumbeat of an orc army. In fact, the only thin moment on the record,
the guitar-only Interlude, feels distinctly OK (rather than uniformly
“excellent”) because of the absence of interesting drumwork.
Thankfully, the rest of the album more than
compensates for this otherwise very fine bridge track. “Blackened
Earth” and “Born for Death” are
sludgy little gems, and sound far more complex than many dual-guitar bands
could hope for. There’s a really
effective contrast between low end murk and higher tones that Tommy manages to
pull off on the record – I’m interested in seeing whether it plays as
effectively in a live setting. “Abject” is without a doubt the best
track on the first half of the record – with the vocals altering between death
growls and fried screams. The agonizing
intensity is remarkable.
The master suite of the record has to be the
one-two punch of “The World in Ruin”, and the title track, “Stolen Absolution”. On “The World in Ruin”, Tommy establishes a
cinematic, poisonous spaghetti western track rife with menace and beauty in
equal measure. When Abbey’s drums slam
in at the opening of “Stolen Absolution”,
it’s a moment of genuine catharsis countered by immediate dread. The prior themes on “The World…” sour and evolve, while Tommy’s unhinged vocal
performance is flawless. The escalating
tension, heartfelt enthusiasm, and ripping tone coalesce to elevate Oryx’s sophomore record to an early contender for best
sludge album of 2018. “Stolen Absolution” would be an
achievement for any band, and is even more impressive since it’s balanced on
the shoulders of two savage metal masters.
