Oldowan Gash - 1000 Dreams of War

Oldowan Gash is a one-man black metal band from Los Angeles, California, that formed in 2016 by musician The Forlorn Spirit (Ablazen Winds, Baphomancia, Desert Eagle).   His latest release under this moniker, “1000 Dreams of War,” is the second full-length album; two EPs, a demo, and a compilation have also been released. Guest musician Longinus provides the drums. 

There is a raw, profane energy to this album that cannot be ignored, or denied.  From the opening second to the final scream, this is a black metal album that is pure hellfire and fury.  But it isn’t just endless tremolo riffs and incoherent madness that is raw for the sake of it.  The anger, the hate, the aggression…it’s controlled with a surprisingly dedicated precision and is a musical weapon brought up from the underground as a living, breathing creature. 

The songwriting is something to behold.  Each song has a lot of different part and pieces, varying degrees of extremity formed together by subtle hints of melody and atmosphere, but all run through a grinder and distilled down to the essence of what makes black metal so against the grain.  

Although separated by two other songs, I want to talk about both parts of “Catechism of Shame.”  The first part, and the one that opens the album, is the more direct and aggressive of the two.  After some brief ambient noises, the song fully embraces the traditional values of black metal:  fast riffs, machine gun drums, and clawing vocals.  The riffs pull back a big for a more direct attack in the middle passage as the drums barrage their way through.  A catchy groove settles in, and the band rides it out until the end.  

The second part is more introspective and atmospheric in places but still keeps the feel of the preceding part, fading in naturally from where the first part faded out.  The buildup is awesome and I appreciate the band taking somewhat of a breather to let them flesh out their sound.  Of course, there are still plenty of fast parts, but the solo and slightly melodic riffs offer just enough of a new dynamic.  

The title track and “Brides of Orlok,” separate these two.  The former is the most violent song on the album.  From the opening moments all the way to the 3:17 mark, this song pushes ever forward with blasting grooves and primal screams.  At that mark, there is a very slight moment to catch a breath before the band jumps back into it.  The ending solo is pretty damn good too, simple but effective as a counter melody against the riffs. 

The latter opens with weird noises before transforming into the most horrific sounding of the songs.  This is a dirty, disgusting, blackened piece of blood magic that sees the band embrace their darkest roots and harness the true power of what it means to be raw.  Around the 2:55 mark, the band introduces what could be a melody but it's muddy and bloodied. Great.

The final song is the epic, “Fighting Forever,” and its 14-minute runtime.  That runtime isn’t used to really change anything major about the band’s sound, but it does flesh out all the details of what they have established, and I don’t see any issues with it because it is solid from start to finish, especially the solos.  The scream about the 9:20 mark is harrowing and I like the trance-like state the music settles into afterwards. 

Oldowan Gash’s “1000 Dreams of War,” is an excellent black metal album that balances the aggression and speedy the genre is known for with melancholic textures but does so on its own terms.  

Rating:  Great