Monday 28 December 2020

The Owl - Odyssey One

Labels: Self-Released

Formats: None Yet

Release Date: Unreleased


Tracklist:


1. Ascend (And Keep Going)

2. Descend (The Rise Again)


I've been spending the last few days (as many of you have) with family. That time has allowed me to reset and also to get a couple of things done. At the time of writing this, there have already been 120 reviews published on the blog this year. Not the most that's ever been published, but I'm proud nonetheless. I'm also in the process of working out how many individual bands I've reviewed since the blog began. A large task that I've almost completed.


Aside from all of that though, the urge to finish of 2020 with one review (or maybe two by the time New Year's Eve hits) was too much, so here I am writing about something that hasn't even officially been released yet (that's scheduled for January all being well). It comes from Leeds based entity The Owl and it was sent to me in the form of a promo CD when I ordered the latest DIY release from OwlRipper Productions, containing two doom songs. Rumour has it that this release may become part of a wider series from the band in the future as well. 


As you may know, The Owl is a solo-project and a pretty prolific one at that. Odyssey One sees the project venturing into the desolate realms of doom metal via noise and percussion. Being a more than proficient bass player helps The Owl build the sometimes harrowing soundscapes that sit within it’s music and that description is accurate on this EP’s first song ‘Ascend (And Keep Going)’. This isn’t your groovy, friendly, melodic type of doom metal. Instead it’s the noisy and nightmarish kind, championed by the likes of Primitive Man, Meth Drinker (RIP) and Sunn0))) minus the vocals. Those are all fairly predictable comparisons if you know me but given the low-end heft and sheer length of the song, I stand by them. Talking of the song length, nearly eighteen minutes is definitely enough time for you to get truly lost in it and if like me, you’re waiting for the supposed snow that’s due to fall later tonight it’s the perfect way to get in the mood.


Second song ‘Descend (The Rise Again)’ is considerably shorter but even weirder thanks to the addition of vocoder-style spoken word at it’s beginning that leads the way to what becomes several layers of building, haunting doom/noise. You think the volume’s just gonna keep rising but alas, it settles before itself descending. Very subtle treble nestles within the feedback here and as quickly as the song started, it ends. I didn’t want to end this paragraph so abruptly so in synopsis, this little EP is a very promising sign of things to come from The Owl and if it indeed does go onto form part of a series of similar releases, I for one will be waiting in anticipation. This project is one that’s screaming out for all kinds of collaborations, so hopefully that will become a thing when the world’s not as crazy as it is now. Until then, bury yourself in The Owl’s myriad of sonic offerings and await further news on the release on Odyssey One.


A short teaser for the release can be found below:-



You can stream and download the rest of The Owl's catalogue here - https://theowl.bandcamp.com/.


The Owl - https://www.facebook.com/theowlsounds

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