ORSAK: OSLO – In Irons
ORSAK: OSLO – In Irons
Vinter Records
Release Date: 27/04/23
Running Time: 41:43
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
If I could ever work out how to do a black border around this, I would. There were three hundred words of jocular amusement written here about snacks and dogs, and then one of the furry bastards has gone and ripped the arse out of my world again and left me grief-stricken and rudderless.
Crow Cottage now has but a singular Smellhound remaining. The Dread Lord Igor Egbert Bryan Clown-Shoe Cleavage-Hoover died after a protracted illness on the fourth of May, and for all Dark Juan is a sarcastic, nasty, frequently abusive bastard to all and sundry, his one saving grace is that he adores his dogs like they are his children and Igor was not just adored. He was worshipped. And Mrs Dark Juan and myself are both absolutely bereft right now. I’d say send nudes, but I am not interested in them because of the hold a little, but absolutely ferocious, dog has on my heart, even after he’s gone and shattered it into a million tiny pieces. Grief sucks, and kummerspeck as a vegetarian apparently means cheap single malt Scotch whisky and an endless supply of chocolate oatie biscuits.
I love you more than any silly human has loved a dog before, Igor. I hope you have found Zeus and you are having all the cuddles.
I must apologise to ORSAK: OSLO and all the other bands I have queued up in my review list whose release dates I have missed because of my dog going and dying on me. He did not go quietly into the light. Neither will your reviews. I will get them written and delivered as fast as I can manage.
Now, in a valiant effort to stop bloody moping because it does not become Dark Juan, I am spinning ORSAK: OSLO’s “In Irons” upon the dinosaur bone burning, turbocharged Platter of Splatter ™.
ORSAK: OSLO are a Scandinavian band composed of Swedes and Norwegians (which will be entertaining for Google Translate later) and they play instrumental music, which is an intriguing brew of Psychedelia, dystopian Post-Rock and Krautrock, Post Noir if you will, and the five tunes on the album are a heady and interesting combination of thoughtful compositions and out-there improvisation.
The album (“In Irons”) opens with ‘068 The Swell’, a deceptively softly rocking, slowly growing animal that marches relentlessly across a dystopic, black desert which has the shattered remnants of habitation poking out of it, headed towards an equally sterile, vivid blue ocean. There is a cold heart to this piece of music, one that appears to grow in excitement as it gets closer to the sea and yet becomes deflated once it gets there and sees that there is no life there either, just tide and detritus. It is an evocative opening gambit – chock full of emotion and musical instruments that are not just being played, they are being emoted upon.
The second piece is called ‘079 Dutchman’s Wake (Part I)’, implying that there is a Part II, and that ORSAK: OSLO have misplaced it, which is terribly careless of them. The music is a shapeshifting, swirling creature on this track, switching itself from Krautrock-esque repetition into a gloriously emotional Gothic, soaring beast, all keystones and flying buttresses before morphing once again into a Psychedelic, navel-contemplating ending. The Psychedelic element also marks the start of the third musical composition on the record, ‘069 In What Way Are You Different’, where feedback, and fuzzy, simple guitar underpin a male voice acting as the subconscious thoughts inside your head, the playing reflecting the manner in which your thoughts are slow and your movements too when you are feeling introspective or depressed – time passes more slowly when there is little to look forward to. The music then comes more to life as the song progresses. It reflects the manner in which you try to lift yourself out of apathy and do something productive after you have had a fucking good sulk and you have bored yourself absolutely rigid and you can recognise that the way out of sorrow yet that little bastard in your head won’t fucking shut its hateful little mouth and tries to drag you down, back into your own little pit of despond and misery. The guitar and drums build in intensity, eventually drowning out the voice of your own despair and signifying your returning to the land of the living, not the miserable swamp of sorrow and self-recrimination.
‘078 The Mute (Part II)’, implying that ORSAK: OSLO have again been careless and lost a bit of it, begins with feedback and drone. Dark Juan likes feedback and drone because it most accurately represents the sound inside his head when he isn’t mourning. The music takes the form of an endless droning bass rumble with the occasional cymbal smash and gentle, psychedelic noodle on the guitar over the top of the Industrial, Krautrock backing, metallic and machinelike in its unchanging precision. If you like Shoegaze and Drone, this really is the tune for you. It is miserable yet strangely comforting at the same time.
“In Irons” closes out with the SIXTEEN-minute plus that is called ‘074 Hadal Blue’ (The Hadal Zone, named for the Greek underworld, Hades, is the deepest oceanic zone, below the Sunlight Zone, the Twilight Zone, the Midnight Zone and the Abyss). Layer upon layer of sound is built up and new melodies woven into an ever more complex piece of music that becomes heavier and heavier the longer you listen to it. It is not a piece of music that you should read anything to do with the Church of Scientology or conspiracy theory while you listen, as the palpable sense of menace builds and the already febrile emotional state of the music changes from tolerant, to forced calm, to growing yet controlled annoyance, to fuck knows what comes just before rage, and it sets off all kind of subliminal connections in your head without you actually knowing where and what it is influencing inside the lump of grey cheese that is really you.
The album is masterfully mixed and produced and every single element of the music remains absolutely crystal-clear throughout, even when the music is dense and complex. All the small vignettes and little flicks of inspiration are easily discerned by the listener and that listener is going to be admirably rewarded by an album that will require many listens for them to extract every tiny nuance and meaning from the music. It is fucking superb.
The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System (Det patenterade Dark Juan-systemet för blodstänk för våra svenska vänner, and det patenterte Dark Juan blodsprut-vurderingssystemet for våre gode venner i Norge) awards ORSAK: OSLO 9/10 for an almost perfect album if you like to contemplate your inner universe and have your mind expanded.
TRACKLISTING:
01. 068 The Swell
02. 079 Dutchman’s Wake (part I)
03. 069 In What Way Are You Different
04. 078 The Mute (part II)
05. 074 Hadal Blue
LINE-UP:
Christian Andersson – Guitars
Øyvind Minsaas – Drums
Bjarne Karlsson – Guitars
Peter Nilsson – Bass
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
