Oxbow is one weird band. Formed in 1988 in California I chanced upon a review for this band in Metal Hammer when a compilation was released on Hydrahead Records called Love That’s Last a couple of years ago. It seemed pretty interesting and the band played some noisy rock with bizarre musical arrangements and a singer Eugene Robinson, who sounded like the bastard child of Nick Cave, Henry Rollins and Mike Patton while retaining a strong sense of originality. I was hooked.

Last year saw the band release their sixth album in almost two decades and The Narcotic Story is one fucked up ride. The album starts with a short intro that segues into the first proper song The Geometry of Business with an acoustic guitar and catchy groove till the vocals of Eugene Robinson take the song into a whole new dimension. From a simple sounding acoustic workout the song is transformed into a dark sinister sounding dirge. Time Gentlemen Time is a chaotic piece with the vocals serving more as another instrument and creating an atmosphere of tension and paranoia. The band are masters at building atmosphere from chaos and then breaking things back down to the bone.

Down A Stair Backward starts off with a slow groovy monster of a guitar riff with the drummer and vocalist going berserk but somehow never reducing the song to chaotic noise. I suppose chaos is an important part of the band’s sound but I have to say that it is never at the detriment of the song. The centre piece of the song though is She’s A Find. Almost ballad like, with a main guitar line that’s simply sublime and some completely demented vocals this sounds like a love song from a depraved psycho stalker.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again but Eugene Robinson is a terrific vocalist. It’s been a while since I’ve heard someone with this much individuality and power. He lifts what would have been noisy art rock pieces into a completely new level and gives each song a distinct and memorable feel. That’s not to say that the rest of the band isn’t as good though. Dan Adams on bass is a fucking monster with some sublime bass playing that acts as perfect counterpoint to the lurching chaos of the music. Greg Davis’ drums and percussion work brings Ted Parsons’ best work to mind and his drumming powers the songs when necessary and at other times provides a solid foundation. Niko Wenner on guitars is at once heavy and doom filled while being quite adept at doing the whole layers of guitar riffs and providing some terrific guitar and keyboard melodies at the same time.

Oxbow isn’t for everyone. You’re going to have to be a bit adventurous in your listening to like this. It’s almost like Fantomas or Mr. Bungle with the sense of humour replaced by an overwhelming feeling of paranoia and dread. This is heavy music without really being metal in any way and quite an intense listen while being fairly catchy and having enough moments of accessibility to appeal to fans of heavy music. Still, the vocals are going to be the first barrier for people trying to get into this band and if you can get past them then I think the Oxbow experience will be well worth your time. 

Label - Hydrahead

Year of Release - 2007