The Devil's Work

ohGr, "Devils In My Details"
I would love to say that the first time I listened to "Devils In My Details" I instantly fell in love with the album, and that it became an instant classic. A self-described Skinny Puppy fan boy, I lusted for proper material after the disappointment that was "Mythmaker" and slightly formulaic "The Greater Wrong of the Right". Unfortunately my first listen of "DIMD" was a mixture of confusion and frustration. I found myself quizzically looking at the stereo, and generally felt as though my expectations were constantly disappointed. Where was the follow up to both "Welt" and "Sunnypsop" that I so desperately wanted? For me the ohGr project was a very divergent, and enjoyable change from the apocalyptic sludge that is Skinny Puppy, and I kept waiting for such. I found myself questioning if Ogre had "jumped the shark" and feeling genuinely disappointed. It was at that point that I realized I was bringing too much history into this listen.

Ideally a review of the latest ohGr CD, "Devils in My Details", should come from a vacuum; allowing it to stand on it's own merits and ring out as a unique creation. Realistically though, Nivek Ogre's body of work (Skinny Puppy, ohGr, Rx, numerous guest appearances) and general cult status in the genre make it entirely impossible to do so. I came in to this album fully expecting a continuation of the previous two ohGr releases, and was initially hurt at the complete about face the project seemingly took. Bearing this in mind I re-listened to the album a few more times with a clear palette of expectations and frankly the results were quite surprising.

Oh yes, gone are the multi-layered Nord Lead synthesizer melodies, the auto-tuned Ogre-wanting-to-sound-like-Cher, the glitched up "digital rap", the pop sensibility and structure, and the general accessibility of the project as a whole. Moving beyond that though I found a real diamond in the rough. What Mark Walk and Nivek Ogre have delivered is a finely crafted dark concept album that follows the mantra of "the sum is greater than the individual parts", and a listening longing for some original sounding material can be pleasantly surprised.

Starting us off, the seemingly Ballroom Blitz inspired track "Shhh" maintains a constant shuffle snare pattern punctuated with orchestral hits and a growling Ogre that sounds more like "My Voice Sounds like Shit" era Ogre, than the poppy auto-tuned Ogre from recent releases. Moving forward into "Eyecandy" we've got more sludge, and doom as trilling time stretched samples riding detuned washes set the background for a mixture of spoken word and distorted growling vocals. Sharp staccato barking laughter makes you wonder what ride you just signed up for, and clearly this isn't the "Tim Burton-esque" Ogre we've grown recently accustomed to. Instead we have a decidedly dark and malicious sound that is more reminiscent of the Rx project. Then there's the singly most disturbing track on the CD: "Feelin' Chicken". At this point I'd like all readers who predicted a deliberate ohGr song with a polka back beat to raise their hands. Those same readers I then call "bullshit" on. This is not to say this song is a skip track; on the contrary it fits perfectly into album's bearing, and hearkens back to Ogre singing about the "Crackhead Waltz". From here on, as the ride continues to spiral in a mixture of tension and lack of resolution, the rider feels compelled to continue along yet still clueless as to where it's going.

This is not an album to pick up and bounce to. I walked into it with considerable expectations, and those expectations were disappointed, but more importantly once those expectations were gone I was able to really appreciate a unique album. The sound is all Mark Walk, just not the Walk we've grown used to. While the first 2 releases had a very discrete palette of sounds, "Devils In My Details" instead creates a sonic brick. Still each sound maintains the lo-fi quality that Mark Walk is famous for. Nivek Ogre returns to classic Skinny Puppy era form with his use of vocals and manipulations. I enjoyed the poppy Ogre we've heard recently, but I have to say it too me a while to realize how much I missed the scary Ogre. In short, don't pick up this album and attempt to skip to the first "hit". Instead carefully set aside time to listen to the album in it's entirety, digest it, and listen again. More than likely you'll be glad you did.

-Guest review by Rob Kukuchka

ohGr, "Witness"