Owl - Nights in Distortion

For the almost two years that we are reviewing albums here for Metal Addicts, several doom metal efforts have poped up to our shelves what was to me a real surprise. That is so maybe due to all the diversity of sounds and paces doom metal offers. Or maybe because the world is getting darker and darker and musicians and fans are getting sick of all the plastic happiness the institutional media make us swallow. Or as Rudulf Schencker, Scorpions guitarist and mastermind said the other day:

“I still like to listen to analog, because it is food for the heart.”

Maybe so. I won’t disagree with the master. Among Metal’s diversity, I guess doom is the most analog of them all. Just wonder how many vocal styles are allowed into a doom metal band. A lot, isn’t it? How about paces? Another ton. That’s my point. Exactly what we listen in this Owl “Nights in Distortion.” A pretty strong doom metal band with glimpses of many Metal influences. Owl – by the way, what a name! – apply to their music lots of influences and musical techniques. “We Are Made for Twilight” shows a bit of this with its gloomy vocals mediated with clean and pinkfloydish vocals. But it’s not only this: by the middle of “We Are Made for Twilight” a third kind of vocal appears. An angry and harsh one to follow the shoegazed and strong guitar chordal riffing. “Nights in Distortion” is an album of chordal riffing. Owl do that to give a gloomier mood to their music which sometimes gets very near 1980’s gothic bands as in “Transparent Monument.”

When I said Owl abuse of tons of influences, I really meant it. In “Anamnesis” there are a lot of industrial and modern Metal – Hum, aren’t they the same? Well, nevermind. – touches. Same in “Inanna in Isolation” with its distorted bass lines which gives the modern Metal touch. Owl are a band that dazzle us. You never know what is to come in the next track. I consider that desirable to any band. Desirable, not mandatory. Sometimes the charm of a band is to play eleven tracks of the same music. I won’t mention any name. “Abortion of Empathy” is more complex in terms of instrumentals. And the grand finale is “Madness Is the Glory of This Life” a song that sounds like its name. You can feel all the despair contained in it. Well, not to mention that I guess Owl are right about it.

Owl “Nights in Distortion” will be released on September 7th via Temple of Torturous Records.

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