Recommended for fans of: Yob, Baroness, Boss Keloid
It takes balls… huge, pendulous balls… to go all in on not just one concept album but a full-on trilogy, especially when your creative concept begins with the story of an undead elephant, resurrected by Nazi occultists and infused with Lovecraftian energies, which then (due to some timely intervention by a vengeful shaman) turns against its masters and goes on a fascist-stomping rampage… and then only gets crazier from there.
It’s good then that enigmatic UK unit Bull Elephant have the necessary testicular fortitude required to tackle such an epic (and, let’s be honest, utterly ridiculous) story, as well as the necessary instrumental abilities and songwriting skills to ensure that their pachyderm-based Prog Doom (which also incorporates touches of Sludge, Death Metal, and Thrash) is more than up to the task in a musical sense as well.
2019 – BULL ELEPHANT
Eponymous opener “Bull Elephant” (from the album Bull Elephant by the band Bull Elephant, completing the holy trifecta) quickly lays down the gauntlet and lets you know what you’re in for from this album, delivering just over seven minutes of weighty, doom-laden riffs, chunky, chugging rhythms, and numerous epically melodic moments (all topped off with a multifaceted vocal performance that runs the gamut from gruff, growling gutturals to rough-edged, Devin Townsend-esque cleans).
It’s one hell of an introduction, and the subsequent assault of booming, sludge-slinging guitars and brooding atmosphere which makes up “Construct of Chaos” only goes on to further enhance that early impression of Bull Elephant as a band who, even at this early stage, have already found a voice and vision of their own.
“Communion” leans even more towards the proggy, doomy side of the band’s repertoire – mixing the dirty grooves of Yob with the expansive sonic sheen of Ocean Machine-era Devin – and features some of the most spellbinding vocal melodies (reminiscent of the best of Boss Keloid) of the album so far, while the stripped-down strains of “Corrupted Truth” see the group amping up the aggression and thrashy intensity in a manner not dissimilar to early Byzantine.
The band then get appropriately introspective on “Reflections”, allowing both the song’s soaring solos and calmer, moodier moments room to breathe, after which the humongous (and, at least during its doom-laden first half, seriously heavy) “Winterfist” finds Bull Elephant pushing the envelope even further with some of their crunchiest riffs, proggiest melodies, and most powerful vocals yet.
Concluding with the stomping sturm und drang of “Dread Reactor” – one of the heaviest and hookiest tracks on the entire album – there’s no question that Bull Elephant have laid the foundations for something special here, with every single idea and every single influence, no matter how odd or OTT, adding to the record’s overall richness and helping to immerse the audience in the weird and wacky world the band have created.
2020 – CREATED FROM DEATH
Part two of the band’s “nature vs nazis” trilogy finds the soul of our hulking hero reborn in a human body and forced to go on the run, watched over by a giant, magic ape (and you thought things couldn’t get any weirder).
Reflecting this, the music has also undergone something of a transformation – the opening title-track, for example, cycling through a thrilling variety of twists and turns, switching effortlessly back and forth between bombastic Sludge-Doom to punchy Prog-Thrash to moody ambience to riveting melody over the course of five-and-a-half fantastic minutes – while still retaining the same soul as their previous album.
Similarly, the Baroness-esque “Oneiromantic Rites” finds the group expanding their melodic mindset even more, with a greater emphasis on ruggedly emotive clean vocals, simmering, slow-burn riffs, and liquid, wah-drenched lead lines, while “Lebensraum” employs an altogether darker approach that leans more towards the nastier, sludgier side of the spectrum (all balanced out by some poignant passages of soothing melody).
On “Cult of the Black Sun Nemesis” the band then double down on the fat-bottomed guitar grooves and hooky, harmonised licks like some sort of fusion of Khemmis and Mastodon (while also finding time to indulge their more intricately proggy proclivities during the song’s sublime mid-section), after which “Last Defilement” and “Perverted Science” allow the group to let their doomier and thrashier sides (respectively) take centre-stage (with the frantic intensity and chunky grooves of the latter giving the song a touch of Byzantine about it).
Penultimate track “Escape to the Arctic” finds Bull Elephant in full-on, cinematic Prog-Doom mode, conjuring up an array of bold, resonant riffs, sublime, shimmering melodies, and heroic, harmonised vocals, before killer closer “Wayfarer” – which channels elements of Crowbar, Kylesa, and King Crimson into its epic, anthemic delivery – helps to ensure that, just like an elephant, you’re not going to ever forget the first time you heard Created From Death.
2023 – THE LONG WAR
The band’s third (but hopefully not final) album kicks off with doomy death-march of “Expansion From Perceived Reality”, whose groove-heavy guitars, versatile vocals (part gravel-throated growl, part cathartic, semi-clean croon) and climactic explosion of intensity really help set a high bar for the rest of the record.
Thankfully the crushing “Blackened Chaos Horizon” – which marries ugly, Autopsy-esque Death-Doom with an array of sludgier and more shamelessly proggy embellishments – and the sombre, simmering slow-burn of “Berlin Falling” – which melds melancholy melody and haunting ambience with gloom-laden guitars and mood-laying leads – both maintain the same high standards as the record’s riveting opener (albeit in different ways).
And although “Zentrum der neuen Welt” maintains the same doomy pace as its predecessor, it also expands upon it, simultaneously pushing the band’s sound towards heavier, more melodic, and more anthemic, extremes as the song marches forwards.
After a brief respite from the existential horror, the bullish, bombastic strains of “Severing the Last Strands of Self” – which weaves together Death Metal angst and Doom Metal atmosphere, thrashy intensity and sludgy swagger – then deliver a powerful, penultimate punch to the proverbial gut (before concluding with some gorgeous acoustic guitar work), after which the climactic title-track steps up to bring the whole saga to a close.
And what a finale it is! Clocking in at just over thirteen minutes, “The Long War” builds from an ominous, melody-rich opening to an extravagant eruption of titanic guitars and gigantic grooves, underpinned by some barely-restrained, thrash-tinged energy and topped off with a bevy of versatile, ever-changing vocal styles which, together, tell the tale of the final battle between nature and the unnatural which ends, as we all knew it would, in a fiery, Prog-Doom crescendo.
Will there be more from Bull Elephant in the future? Who knows. But, for now, The Long War is finally over…