By: Ralka Skjerseth |
Oathbreaker is back in the scene with their enthralling new single called Ease Me. It is featured as a part of Adult Swim’s compilation, Metal Swim 2. The song is featured along with some other renowned names such as Baroness, Sunn O))), Eyehategod, Botanist, Author & Punisher, Alien Weaponry and Nervosa. In this song, they seemed to have abandoned their earlier extreme metal roots that they implemented on their earlier works Eros/Anteros and Mælstrøm. and, just like their earlier release before this one —the 2016 release Rheia— , they lean more on blackgaze elements. In my opinion, the song has similar energy and vibe with one of the tracks from Rheia, titled Being Able to Feel Nothing. Ease Me starts with a sampled electronica effect, which is new from Oathbreaker, and it happens to be such an experiment I have never expected before from them. The sampled effect is not bad, though. The instruments kick in afterwards, with poignant, melancholic, and atmospheric vibes all over. The guitar lines are pretty melodic but it is not quite dynamic as it stays on the same pace throughout the song. though it does not make the song less enjoyable or anything. In this song, vocalist Caro Tanghe performs all clean vocals with no screams at all, and the nuance of her vocals this time is, as usual, hauntingly beautiful yet vicious at the same time. The drums are on mid tempo and the beats are quite catchy. Overall, this song is less heavy compared to Oathbreaker’s previous material, and while good and bad is relative, I personally still prefer their earlier, heavier stuffs since I am more into heavy stuffs with thrashing riffs and blast beats in general. But if you happen to want to start getting into blackgaze but would prefer lighter stuffs, probably this song would be your kind of thing.
