ninehertz

Oaken, from Budapest, have made something of a statement here, even if the album is only three tracks and half an hour long.

This is a carefully curated conglomeration of genres, progressively constructed into something more than the sum of its parts. Through dense atmospherics and a wide range of instrumentation, to a Werner Herzog documentary sample, From the Bonfire is a story of chaotic desolation.

Each song lasts longer than the last, with the opener still plentiful and considered in its quiet build up. If you’ve taken some of the pointers at face value – primarily that they are a hardcore band – it is of some surprise, but this is just the first sign that Oaken are not a mere run of the mill band. It develops subtly so that by the time it is in full swing you haven’t noticed you’re in the middle of the maelstrom.

It is, approximately, progressive sludge of the ilk of Deadbird and their kin, with a post-hardcore flavour. World Eater builds a similarly heady aura, making links to a band such as Inter Arma viable; patient, prowling sludge in the gloomily cast half-light.

There’s certainly post-metal influence in here too, a grimy Neurosis element to be found in the grand quarter hour closer The Coronation too. There are near six minutes of sci-fi synths and noises at its start, picking up into crustier yet considered climes, the mystical nature retained even in its heavier moments.

This is a creative, ambitious and gloomy album existing in the cracks between sludge, post-hardcore and post-metal – From the Bonfire is an extremely good record, bristling with atmosphere and individuality.