Oak, Ash & Thorn – Dying Culture

Denver quartet Oak, Ash & Thorn share the official video today for “Dying Culture” from their forthcoming full length, Our Grief is Thus.

Our Grief Is Thus is a monumental album, loosely constructed as a concept album with every song dealing thematically with grief from loss in some form.

Album opener, “Dying Culture”, for example, is about the loss of tradition by way of urbanization and generational decline, “Light My Pyre” tackles betrayal and the dissolution of friendship, and “Auras” deals with the loss (and renewal) of honor and identity in the face of withering familial ties.

The album was recorded at the Blasting Room (founded by Black Flag/Descendents drummer Bill Stevenson) in Ft. Collins, CO in June-July of 2023, and marks the first time in Oak, Ash & Thorn’s history that the band walked out of a studio with an album fully representing their vision. The songs on Our Grief is Thus are tighter than on prior recordings, with the band reaching beyond their pagan death/black metal foundation to take novel influence from the galloping energy of crust punk, power metal’s soaring triumph, post-punk’s brooding dynamics, and the unconventional melodies of prog metal.

Vocalist/guitarist Adam Armstrong uses his clean tenor/baritone more than ever before, reinvigorating it with a newfound grit and power. Lead guitarist Jason Harding truly shines in his playing, and his unique melodic leads – including his first proper solo on “Ten Years on the Tundra” – have elevated the band’s songcraft to new levels. Bassist Erik Hoffman can be heard coming into his own with his distinct knack for both accentuation and lead-weighted groove, while drummer Cierra White, already notorious for her unstoppable kit-killing, has taken inspiration from gospel drummers, evident in her choppy fills and use of unorthodox patterns. Producer/recording engineer Colton Krohn and guest producer Taylor Hahn, meanwhile, were instrumental in the making of the album, as Armstrong notes, “they pulled the absolute best performances out of us, and their expertise and advice on arrangement were like nothing we’d ever had before.”

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