ALBUM REVIEW: Disintegrate – OAK
The link between doom metal and longer song structures is well established, to the point where it is regarded as one of the genre’s hallmarks. From classic one song albums such as SLEEP‘s Dopesmoker and BONGRIPPER‘s Great Barrier Reefer, through to modern records such as the fantastic Beyond The Shores (On Death And Dying) by SHORES OF NULL, doom metal has a long and storied history with entire albums being dedicated to a single, sprawling track, allowing bands to explore a layered and varied sound in the process. Portugal’s OAK are no strangers to long and ponderous offerings, with their first album Lone boasting two tracks that collectively encompassed nearly 40 minutes. The band’s second record, Disintegrate, makes both these tracks seem short and punchy by comparison, spanning nearly 45 minutes and standing as arguably their best and indeed most expansive work to date.
Disintegrate begins with minimal, ethereal guitars and haunting ambience, feeling more like a post-rock offering than doom metal. Even when the music lurches into a weightier sound, with thicker guitars, chunky bass and cavernous drums, it still retains these airy overtones, with only the rumbling gutturals and subtler guitar flourishes adding any menace. Ducking and weaving between heavier, sombre sections and atmospheric interludes, the band shift from one distinct motif to the next without breaking from the flow of the music, incorporating soaring melodic touches and energised drumming.
The track slowly but surely gathers momentum as it progresses, without losing the grandiosity that lies at its heart, with harsher, faster moments peppered in to provide an urgency and intensity, along with a discordant edge that sees the overall sound start to head into darker, fiercer territories around a third of the way in. Each subsequent section gets more aggressive, and by the halfway point caustic black metal has crept in alongside the sanguine elements of post-rock, ambient and death-doom, lending a sharper, more cutting side to the band’s sound that brings to mind the trio’s work with GAEREA.
Half an hour in, these elements are combined with monolithic death-doom, along with the ever-present atmospheric undercurrent, pushing the music into an even more noxious sound, a heady blend of various extreme metal components that all work exceptionally well together, with hints of black, death and doom all floating to the surface. Next comes another minimalistic twist, with whispered vocals, and a delicate approach to the drums and guitars bringing to mind some of TRIPTYKON‘s more sinister and cinematic qualities. As the album reaches its final, climactic moments, the music begins to wind down somewhat, stripping away much of the black and death metal that informed large chunks of this track and embracing the huge, groove-laden doom that has been this song’s backbone. It proves to be an epic way to close this song, and the record.
Like all the best one track albums within doom, OAK have injected a myriad of musical influences into Disintegrate‘s sound, so that that although it’s clearly one cohesive whole as an album, there are distinct musical breaks that help to keep things interesting all the way through – something that’s probably even more important on an album like this than it would be on a standard record. The coalescing mix of death, doom, black and even ambient flourishes within the sound go a long way to making sure that this is as engrossing as it is, and they allow the music to shift from one style to another as it progresses, with several prolonged motifs feeling like songs within the over-arching musical narrative, whilst remaining linked with its numerous other parts. With Disintegrate, OAK have established themselves as one of death-doom’s more promising and imaginative acts, crafting a sound with a much broader scope to it that bodes well for any future music the band produces.
Rating: 9/10
Disintegrate is out now via Season Of Mist.
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