ALBUM REVIEW: The Absence – Oak Pantheon
It’s been a slight dry spell for fans of OAK PANTHEON since their last EP release Sol back in 2018. When the band treated us to a couple of singles last year, it left many chomping at the bit for a new offering. A present for the beginning of the year, and five years since their previous release we finally have a brand new, full-length record, The Absence. Will OAK PANTHEON prove worth the wait?
OAK PANTHEON start off strong with openers Listen! and Dissociate. Listen! is a powerhouse of rhythms, churning and pummelling. The rising overarch of harmonising guitars is solid and the constant changes in tempo and timbre are extremely captivating, while Dissociate has a tumbling, oppressive ending that abruptly leaves you with no release from the tension it’s been building, a solid way to emulate the song’s title in real time.
The chiming whimsy of Becoming None and Beating Heart fall fast into the folk leanings of OAK PANTHEON, and are a welcome respite from thick layering of post-metal and black metal. These calmer moments, entangled with comforting choral vocals and soft keys and strings feel like slivers of gold veined in the deep darkness of the rest of the record. They shine, just a sprinkling of warm in the cold and vast expression.
It’s not all clean-cut folk metal, however. Silence We Plead is a great blend between the hushed folk heart and the wailing electric instrumentation that is just pleading to engulf the whole track. As ever, OAK PANTHEON blend and blur their stylistic inspirations so that the classic metal sounds feel like a joyous, fresh heralding to all, while the comforting folk elements permeate into the choral chants.
If you’re looking for the conventionally more hard-line heavy, Decisions has a classic black metal feel – brooding and aggressive to satisfy the tastes of fans more inclined to that side of the band. It’s a solid slab of a song that makes the most of its runtime. Showing a dexterity with a variety of styles will always be a string to OAK PANTHEON’s bow.
Bard Of The Hell-Bent Ages is a blast of Baltic air – cold and immediately attention grabbing. The fluidity between funky good fun and the crust of black metal is really solid. The rhythm section is really steering the ship here, with a super funky bassline and so much variety in the drumming patterns and fills. If you’re looking for the full extent of what OAK PANTHEON can do, this is the track to introduce people to their talents for sure. Chunks of black metal and post-metal blend and overlap into the most atmospheric combination. The smooth, crooning guitar instrumental is just as captivating as if it had been a beautifully sung counter to the harsh vocals, adding a beautiful texture between the full-on onslaught and the spacious depths. Likewise Old Yarn might feel like another, slightly subtler demonstration that OAK PANTHEON can do it all; deep growls and screams, complex time signatures, blast beats, post-metal trilling, intricate melodies and lush harmonies.
OAK PANTHEON have always managed to navigate the balance between atmospheric black metal, catchy choruses and an inclination towards folky post-metal. They’ve more than perfected the formula here on their third full-length album, with The Absence being their best work to date.
Rating: 8/10
The Absence is set for release on January 20th via self-release.
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