(written by Islander)
Many people, including people at this site (witness these six articles going back to 2015), have had many good things to say about the music of the Canadian atmospheric black metal band Wilt, and that is reason enough to pay attention to Vospat, the forthcoming debut EP of Oobris Ios, because its three-person lineup includes two members of Wilt. Those two people are vocalist Jordan Dorge and drummer Jordan Sanderson, and the third member is guitarist/bassist Ryan Forsyth (from the death metal band Dissolution, among others).
It’s fair to say that Oobris Ios represents a departure (perhaps fair to say an experimental departure) from the members’ previous bands. Among other things, the songs on Vospat represent the telling of a dire and daunting science-fictional or fantastical narrative, related to us in an ancient alien language but prefaced in English this way:
Before light, there was darkness. Almost 14 billion years ago, the entity known as the singularity was slain, and its followers scattered across what is now known as the universe. Their chants within the dark matter echo in the light, constantly trying to diminish its power. Oobris Ios is the dimensional reverberation that those in the light can hear. Bring hate. Bring the dark out of the light and extinguish it once and for all.
What we have for you today is the astonishing first single from Vospat, the name of which in that ancient alien tongue is “Dostratis Satod Duvon Xagan.” The band have explained this: “Translations were lost eons ago, but some believe it is the retelling of what it’s like to be dragged through a black hole across the cosmos.”
The six songs presented by Vospat are each in the range of about 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes, and “Dostratis…” is the longest one. It still wraps up before hitting the 3:30 mark, but Oobris Ios pack a lot of thrilling and chilling sensations into it, creating an alien mind-bender of a high order.
Prepare for a storm of dissonance and devastation, but also prepare for what seems like the disconcerting anthem of a terrible imperium and agonies on an unfathomable scale. It will likely leave your eyes wide open and wondering what the hell just happened, but chilled to the bone.
In tones both corrosive and searing, the riffing brutally smashes and frantically squeals, viciously swarms and grievously moans, feverishly shivers and blares like warped sirens, backed by abyssal bass undulations and skull-rattling drumwork.
Jordan Dorge ejects the strange words in maddened howls and deep, dictatorial, and thoroughly malignant growls. But as noted earlier, it’s not the only aspect of the song that comes across as haughty. Momentous low-frequency detonations sound like pitch-black fanfares, accompanying high-flown waves of eerie, broiling lunacy.
The music also seems to peal like bells of death, to flow like haunting astral rivers of hopelessness, and to gnaw, warp, and writhe as the vocals erupt in horrid screams. The bass bubbles like magma and the drums both crack the whip and explode in rapid-fire bursts, but as the song moves toward its end, the layered fretwork creates a devastating harmony of terrible pain on a sweeping scale.
Vospat will be released on March 21st by Decomp Regalia Records. It was produced and mixed by Ryan Forsyth, mastered by Jake Sacher, and features artwork by Rotting Reign and a logo by View from the Coffin.
To pre-order, use the link below. I’ll have more to say about the rest of the EP at a later time.
https://oobrisios.bandcamp.com/album/vospat
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553696603613