OCCULT HAND ORDER ~ SILENCE BY THE RAGING SEA ... review

 

It has been three years since Desert Psychlist reviewed French trio Occult Hand Order's second album "The Chained The Burned The Wounded", and we do have to admit to beginning to wonder if we would ever hear from the band again, thankfully the appearance of  two singles , "Sink" and "Sailor" this year (2023), followed by the announcement of a brand new album, allayed those fears. That album has now landed and if you thought "The Chained The Burned The Wounded" was exceptional then "Silence By The Raging Sea" is going to send you into melt-down.

"Sink" opens "Silence By The Raging Sea", its percussive intro, backed by a phased guitar motif, suddenly bursts into life when the bass joins the fray the resulting circular feeling groove heavy and impactful. That heaviness soon dissipates and things take on a post-rock feel with ethereal, almost mournful, vocals wafting over ringing guitar textures, liquid bass and solid steady percussion, then just as suddenly the heaviness returns, joined by an appropriately gnarled vocal, to begin the whole cycle again, a true case of mixing the sweet with the sour. "Sailors" follows and boasts a slightly more chugging and heavy dynamic to its predecessor with the vocals following suite in places by taking on grittier/harsher tones, there are also some nice loud/quiet dynamics employed here which balance things out nicely and add to the songs overall atmospheric. Next we have "Pyre" a song that begins life loud and doomic, with crunching dank guitar tones reverberating over pummelling percussion,  but then morphs into some sort of post-metal/heavy psych hybrid with monophonic yet melodic vocals delivered in an almost Gregorian semi-chant, the song routinely switching back and forth between these dynamics as it journeys to its close. Elements of sludge, industrial, goth and experimental metals find a place to call their own on "Fever" along with aspects from the more extreme edges of the metallic spectrum while "Tidal Waves" mirrors its title with an undulating groove that constantly alternates between a gentle trickle and a raging torrent. "Golden Bones" finally brings things to a close, a stunning opus that finds Occult Hand Order ramping up their heavy/gentle/heavy dynamics to whole other level of impressive while also throwing in a little prog-like texturing for added impact.

Occult Hand Order's "The Chained The Burned The Wounded" was an opus that really pushed the boundaries of what it was possible to achieve within the confines of the stoner doom genre, an album that balanced bluster and heaviness with calmness and restraint. Such a ground breaking album was always going to be a tough act to follow but these guys seem to thrive on a challenge and with "Silence By The Raging Sea" they have not only met that challenge they've taken things to the next level. 

Check it out ....

© 2023 Frazer Jones