ALBUM REVIEW: Build Fear – Aglo
Aaron Osborne has been a busy man since he started making Star Trek inspired death-doom under the name of AGLO. A debut EP last year, another earlier this year, and now a full-length already; Build Fear may have arrived relatively quickly, but as you may expect from the genre it finds its home in, it is a record that refuses to hurry as it doles out a cruel and cavernous sludgy bludgeoning.
In addition to any hype built up by AGLO’s previous releases, and indeed the subject matter that will be particularly interesting to anyone with an affinity for the final frontier, one big draw here is the involvement of brothers Colin and Taylor Young (both members of the likes of DEADBODY, GOD’S HATE and TWITCHING TONGUES, and each with their own individually stacked CVs as well). The former provides drums as Osborne handles everything else and he brings to the record a steady, measured heft punctuated by thunderous tom fills and creative stylistic choices made apparent from the outset as a cowbell tonks its way into opener Last Rites.
The older Young meanwhile is at this point very highly respected for his production talents, and he returns behind the desk here to give Build Fear the kind of monolithic and suffocating mix it requires and deserves. Osborne’s guitar tone is thick and all-encompassing, his guttural vocals resembling that of some kind of freshly-awoken eldritch horror bellowing from deep within a long-neglected space cave (please, Trekkies, don’t go mad if that’s not something that happens in the show, take the vague sci-fi metaphor as a win if you can because that’s as good as it’s going to get).
Turning to the actual songcraft, Osborne worships perhaps most obviously and unashamedly at an altar that has been visited by thousands before him – that of Kirk Windstein and the almighty CROWBAR. Build Fear is absolutely packed with levels of sludgy groove and swagger that are truly worthy of the New Orleans legends, but it also avoids outright plagiarism mainly through the aforementioned guttural quality of Osborne’s vocals which help add the likes of BOLT THROWER, ENTOMBED and INCANTATION to the list of great bands this record brings to mind, and ultimately places the album a little more clearly in its own lane by not sounding too much like any single influence.
Within that there isn’t loads of respite to be found here, but Build Fear still manages to avoid becoming a slog through several means. First, it keeps the runtime to a sensible 36 minutes; second, there is at least some degree of variation, like the few moments of menacing quiet in third track Regression, for example, or the expansive leads found in the likes of Relativity Undone and Into The Maze; and third and perhaps most importantly of all, it just absolutely crushes. Every track comes with a neck-threatening, headbanging guarantee, and that this remains just as true of a later highlight like Warhead as it is of early cuts like Storm Of Fears and the aforementioned opener is testament to just how well Osborne knows his way round a riff.
So ultimately Build Fear is a cool concept well-executed – perhaps not hugely innovative, but more importantly not completely derivative either. It’s definitely more for people who like the sort of music that makes it feel as though the sun might never shine again than it is for just your average Star Trek fan, but if you happen to fall in the middle of that relatively niche Venn diagram then you won’t believe your luck here.
Rating: 7/10
Build Fear is out now via Brilliant Emperor Records.
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