Look, Dave. Buddy. Pal. I love drone, but you’re making it really difficult. When I sat and listened to Sunn O))) for like an hour and a half, my colleagues mocked me. They said, “Wow Dear Hollow, doing laundry at work, huh?” before laughing and gorilla-hooting in my face all the way back to the Fvneral Fvkk cvbicle. I persisted, even when Steel Druhm played screaming rooster videos while I played Nadja’s Radiance of Shadows and I thought it was the advent of vocals I had missed before—I even spilled my coffee. But even then, I turned the other cheek. I persisted. Even when Dr. A.N. Grier called me an idiot as loudly as possible to drown out Horseback, making him sound like the deranged lap-steel-abusing cowpoke I know he is. My point is: Dave, my man, you gotta help me out here.
Oscillotron is a project of David Johansson, frontman of Steel Druhm–gorilla-themed Swedish doom rock act Kongh, and live guitarist for Cult of Luna since 2013. If you’re hoping that Oscillotron incorporates any of that shit, aside from thick-as-booty-cheeks heavy, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Oblivion is Johansson’s first offering under the moniker in eight years, promising more drone-influenced sprawls than the atmospheric doom and electronic emphases of 2016’s Cataclysm or 2012’s Eclipse. In this way, Oblivion lives up to its name—mightily. Your ears will be greeted by an hour-long track composed of an unceasing wall of noise made of droning guitars and Moog synthesizers. Without a serious pair of headphones or an ounce of masochism, Oscillotron will offer you the album to drift off to. It’s about as exciting as you can imagine.
Oscillotron is meticulous in its sound design, with each layer of density and shuddering radiant carefully constructed and included. In true drone spirit, Oblivion’s spotlight is on the heft. Oscillotron offers no vocals or percussion and no chord progressions in a stark (and tragic) departure from their Sunny genremates. It’s one sprawling and unmoving beast whose only sign of life is some periodic strumming movement, the electronic warbles and beeps from the synth, or the gradual collapse of the wall somewhere near the forty-five-minute mark. Johansson steers away from the Sabbathian orange fuzz of Earth, the dynamics of early Boris, and the evocative movements of Nadja. It’s truly Oblivion, an emptiness that envelopes the ears in encompassing saturation of total emptiness. It’s almost astounding, as repeated listens grant layers of noise peeled back with each iteration, a trip to the void that feels ruinously apathetic and aphotic. It will drive you mad, for better or for worse.
Perhaps most obviously, Oscillotron is drone—stubbornly more-vacant-than-usual-drone—for a whole fuckin’ hour with nothing going for it. Good drone is meant to swallow you whole, but Oblivion is so devoted to expansion that it neglects any form of accessibility or, dare I say music. Distortion is front and center, and for funsies you can sing along by humming the same note for a whole fucking hour. As such, there is no direction or defined purpose, no beginning, middle, or conclusion, aside from the shuddering density. Oblivion cannot stand on its own, as there isn’t even a lead-in or a fade-out—it just starts abruptly and ends abruptly. I can admire Oscillotron’s motives to create something rawer and more visceral than the cinematic facades constructed in years past, but to turn away from the very basics of music into truly a sprawling static stand-still of noise? That is truly puzzling.
I will use Oscillotron’s breed of noise-mongering as background noise for reading or sleep aid, but Oblivion is minimalist decadence for absolutely no one’s benefit. It lacks basic musical wherewithal and earns its status as “just noise.” Yeah, I love drone, but I also like drone to feel a bit more like, I don’t know, music? I can see its uses and get lost in the labyrinth where all walls look the same, but Dave, my guy, I’m gonna be made the laughingstock of AMG HQ if you keep this up. At least put in a couple more chords, a sustained high note, drums, vocals—something. If not, the ADHD Metal Guy, Second Most High Gorilla, Idiotic Cowpoke Grier, and the other Fvneral Fvkking bastards are coming for me. For my sake. Be a friend. Please.
Rating: 1.0/5.0
DR: 3 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Self-Released
Website: oscillotron.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/oscillotron
Releases Worldwide: September 20th, 2024
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