ALBUM REVIEW: Boisterous Love – Ogives Big Band
Bristolian quartet OGIVES BIG BAND have been steadily gathering fame on the UK local and festival circuit, playing the likes of ArcTanGent and Portals Festivals. They now present their debut album Boisterous Love, a five-song collection of condensed fury.
Opener Super Sanity outlines the intense experience that is listening to OGIVES BIG BAND – they trade off open string grooves in odd time signatures with janky MASTODON-esque guitar hooks and big refrains a la CAVE IN, with the song shuffling through a plethora of ideas in its relatively short four-and-a-half-minute runtime. But they don’t only operate at full-pelt speed and noise-wise Chronic Thuggery sees them incorporate more melodic elements of emo and post-hardcore into their sound, offering a brief respite from the wall-of-sound assault.
As the band themselves testify, the music is technical but not at the expense of the human feel and spontaneity. The frequent changes in tempo and melody feel instinctive rather than mathematically precise. Contributing to this are the vocals of Steve Roberts – only an addition since 2020, when the previously instrumental trio expanded their remit – whose chesty yells and fragile cleans audibly come from a place of raw emotion.
Brandishment is another exercise in controlled chaos. Featuring motifs reminiscent of Spanish guitar music, but also chromatic melodies, loud guitar noises and a full combustion towards the end, it represents probably the most challenging listen on the album. Penultimate song Annihilation is an ambient instrumental piece of wailing guitars and brass – initially a welcome palate cleanser at the start, it grows into a crushing drone whose subtle dissonance creates a powerful sense of dread.
As most of Boisterous Love is played at breakneck pace, the record benefits from repeat listens to increasingly get your bearings and draw out the hooks. The breezy runtime of 32 minutes is a good call here, as you probably won’t want to extend the sonic beating for much longer than this, but it also makes it easy enough to dive back in after a break. The record ends on a high with its best song, Absolute Unit. Not only is it an instant candidate for song title and lyrics of the year, such as the opening shout of “He is STACKED!” or the call-and-response of “How much do I bench? I can sit on one for days”, it’s a nine-minute epic that acts as a neat encapsulation of the punishing guitars, angular musical ideas and unusual lyrics that mark out the sound of OGIVES BIG BAND.
Boisterous Love is an engaging and interesting listen, pitching OGIVES BIG BAND as a collective with their own voice and displaying great potential for the future.
Rating: 7/10
Boisterous Love is out now via Stolen Body Records.
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