Album Review: BOG – Unshriven (Self Released)

Unshriven is the latest album from Austrian post-metal band, BOG & will be released on June 24th 2017.

BOG’s expansive & atmospheric post-metal sound draws a lot of instant parallels with the likes of Deafheaven & Ghost Bath. It’s not bad company to be amongst as Unshriven proves that BOG have plenty that makes them standout.

Unshriven is a long one, coming in at 71 minutes. It’s 11 lengthy song journeys of blackened post-metal weaving & twisting their way throughout your body & mind. Not much in the way of vocals at fit’s, it relies on intense guitar driven atmospheric metal to tell its stories.

Heedless’ haunting melody showcases some real beauty in the music being played, Spare brings things low & dark, reaching almost doom-esqe levels & Marrow combines the two to give off some light in the unrelenting darkness.

The use of ambient noises & sounds can’t be understated here, subtle inclusions they enhance the musical journey that BOG take you on.

The short track, Vanish is the first song to utilise vocals & they aren’t what you might necessarily expect. Clean, soaring & softly sung…they fit the low-tempo nature of the music nicely though it’s hardly a song that will be remembered as a strong point of the album.

Thankfully Fellow Traveller goes out of its way to reignite the fire with some dark & filthy sounding riffs & harsh death metal-style vocals & roars. Add some psychedelic sounds & what BOG have here is one the strongest songs on the entire album.

From this point onwards there isn’t a dip in quality again. It’s slamming track after track mixing brooding metal with light melody & it’s a genuine disappointment when the album comes to a close on the title track. Unshriven is intensely heavy but with a lovely drop into a lighter then air melody, it’s an ending that feels definitive especially when it goes for one final heavy flourish.

Unshriven is a fantastic album that can proudly stand amongst the greats when it comes to atmospheric black/post-metal.

BOG – Unshriven Full Track Listing:

1. Vague Dreams
2. Heedless
3. Spare
4. Marrow
5. Vanish
6. Fellow Traveller
7. Primus Inter Pares
8. Stay
9. Mere
10. Ninety-Two
11. Unshriven

You can order Unshriven now over on Bandcamp as well as earlier music. Check out more details about BOG including tour dates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Tumblr. You can also listen to some of BOG’s music on Soundcloud & YouTube.