Hailing
from the University of Sheffield, Northern Oak is a
progressive folk metal band on its third record with “Of
Roots and Flesh.” The band showcases a naturalistic
found intended to represent a love of nature and the English
countryside – having never been, I can't see how
successful it is on that front, but it's certainly a great
listen regardless! This album is funded by the band's fanbase
on Kickstarter and is a compilation of songs from the last
three years of gigging. The end result is an album that is
great to listen to and has some truly fantastic moments. It
is worth noting that this album is definitely a grower, and I
find myself liking it more and more with each listen.
The
primary musical identity of this band, which is left intact
on this album, is that of combining English folk melodies
with heavy metal guitars and grunting vocals. In some cases
English folk melodies are directly used in these songs, which
certainly adds to the authenticity of the work. If pressed,
however, I would say that the dominating music soundscape of
this album is heavy guitars of a sort that acts more as a
constant distorted noise than particularly melodic or
inventive. Over this riffing the melodies typically come in
the form of the flute and recorder by bandmember Catie
Williams, with the guitar rhythmically following suit. Every
once in a while, however, there is an opportunity for the
guitar to fly solo, although these moments are brief and its
use is primarily in constructing the heaviness of the album
and not as a major creative driver in the music apparent to
the listener.
The
vocals by Martin Collins are very brutal and very well
executed, and every once in a while send chills down my
spine. I contend, however, that the vocals are at their most
engaging when Collins isn't grunting at all, but rather
engaging in spoken word and clean vocals. These moments only
happen literally a handful of times on the album, however
(six times by my count) and are extremely fleeting. But those
few minutes of content spread throughout the album work best
for me, as Collins is a great clean singer and has a unique
voice in that mode, whereas his constant growling eventually
blends into the sound elsewhere on the album and the impact
of his viciousness becomes somewhat overdone. The clean
melodies are often very creative and delightful, as well, and
his spoken word towards the end of the album was certainly
welcome and skillfully executed.
The
flute and folksy elements to the music are done very well,
and, when given time to really shine, are done brilliantly.
Like the dirty vocals, though, the flute is often left to
just add to the atmosphere by playing the root note of the
chords during the measures, which lessens its impact and
takes away from its folksy magic. Still, the flutework is at
times phenomenal and work well with the other instruments
meant to evoke nature, such as the strings, recorder, and
acoustic guitar. Taken together, with the background of heavy
guitars, one can say that this album truly represents what it
may mean to be of “folk metal.” With each listen
I'm finding more and more to appreciate beneath the sometimes
deceptively simplistic surface of the music, and I look
forward to further repeated listenings. This is a great album
from a band with a lot of promise, and I can't wait to see
where they go next.
