A very poetic and atmospheric title sets you up nicely for this second EP from French post, progressive black metal band Orob. After a short choral intro we are flung rapidly down ‘The Pathway’ and it is quickly evident from the burgeoning windswept pace that we are up for half an hours-worth of mature and twisting music with plenty of ideas running through it. Singer Thomas Garcia at first adopts a rugged vocal approach but one that is clean enough to follow and as the music chills out a little it leaves you wondering how they are going to expand upon things as it is obvious that brutality is only part of their approach. We are then hit with clean vocals that soar above the music and at first really reminded me of someone but I could not quite put my finger on whom, that illumination was to come a bit later on.
It is with ‘Marrow’ that a certain familiarity becomes more apparent. The track batters in and more of a spoken vocal approach is used. Along with some angular rhythmic twists and turns I was thinking of the weird flavours of Ved Buens Ende and Virus as it stomps away and then a sudden flurry of drums and quieter backing vocal yells put me in another place, namely the greatly missed Akercocke. With solemn chanted vocals and a real arcane feeling adding mysticism that picture is complete and it is all handled in a brilliant way that sets it up as a unique experience even if it does fleetingly remind me of lots of other disparate elements. An acoustic part sees ‘Celestial Abandon’ starting slowly, vocally here I am thinking along the lines of another dark act from the UK Talanas and am certainly enjoying the varied nuances within the music. Guitars take over and shimmer away, the production here is excellent and every tone is replicated perfectly giving this a full-bodied feel. There is lots to lose yourself in as tracks are expertly given plenty of time to expand upon themselves and allow the instrumentation to flurry away and mesmerise with its post blackened atmospheres.
I have given this quite a few listens and it’s one of those discs that gets better and better each play. Songs like ‘Through Roots And Burrows’ literally wrap their fronds around you with gothic etched guitar tones and get right beneath the skin and the majesty and maturity of the players really does impress. Moments of rage make this quite brutal in places but the melody is always present and I bet this lot are an interesting act to catch live. Merging a feral heady flight along with some progressive noodling last song Neptune’s Torch is again full of lots of ideas and this is a disc that really does keep you on your toes from start to finish.
I think as far as the running time is concerned for an introduction to the band this was just about right as there’s so much to take in, having said that it really does leave me wanting to hear more and hopefully that will come in the future as I note this actually came out in 2013. On the strength of it there should certainly be some labels sniffing around.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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