It’s been more than 1 year since the release of Oathbreaker’s 3rd studio album, Rheia and I have only just discovered them!! Well, tell a lie, my Husband did, but still, WOW. I would never describe myself as a black metal fan at all, sure I like pretty heavy bands, I generally listen to nu, alternative and progressive metal but have never really given this genre enough of my time or the attention it deserves.
10:56 & Second Son of R, for me are the conjoined stand out tracks from the album and I just can’t get the songs out of my head. Caro Tanghe’s vocals are stirring as the buzz of the guitar building in the background is enough to give anyone chills. Metal Injection’s Michael Pementel* described her lyricism as “haunting and poetic, gothic and honest and that couldn’t be more accurate!
“The time you plunged
Into the gray cobblestones
Of a back alley to our house
You forgot to use your hands
To break the sudden fall
The sun rose when I saw
Steam ascending from
Your wet clothes and soiled body
That is where you became meaningless
Your skull merged with the surface
I mended your broken nose!”
Listening to 10:56, it feels like there’s static in the air, the volume swirls of the guitar, the slow build, the doleful melody, and it creeps up and up and up until your thrusted, shouting and screaming into Second Son of R and it smacks you in the face. Tanghe’s vocals change from delicate and fragile to shrill and intense. I have never heard anyone’s scream so devastating,
It’s so feminine and powerful and yet she sounds like she is screaming out in agony, no gutturals here. The first time I listened to it I didn’t say a word, I was in awe.
The music video that accompanies the song is just as raw and painful. I guarantee that by the end all your hairs will be sticking up on end, whilst you hit repeat over and over again.
Enjoy C x
* http://www.metalinjection.net/reviews/oathbreaker-rheia
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