Oak – The Third Sleep

vote
7.5

• Band:
  Oak (Nor)
• Duration: 00:46:13
• Available from: 25/04/2025
• Label:

• Karisma Records

Streaming not yet available

The Norwegian quartet Oak arrives at the fourth studio album and this new “The Third Sleep” makes us look back to find out more about them. News on the group born around Oslo in fact few times have come to the fore in our part; However, what actually appears to be clear to a first listening is that, in composing their progressive, they come to bother reminiscences of different genres and refer to some progenitors, as shown from the Floydian arpeggios to the darker and folk drifts typical of the ulver, from the typical dictates of the early two thousand of the porcupine trees and the last spinners to the atmospheres of the opeths “Damnation”.
Going more in detail, the Oaks are born in Oslo as a duo, but quickly become a four -training formation with Simen Valldal Johannesssen under the voice and keyboards, Øystein Sootholtet on bass, Ole Michael Bjørndal on guitars and Sigbjørn Reiakvam behind the skins. After a first digital album released in 2013 and entitled “LightHouse”, “False Memory Archive” followed in 2018 and in 2022 “The Quiet Rebellion of Compromise”, in which the group evolved more and more, mixing electronic parts with classic openings, between the stinging the katatonic of “The Fall of Hearts” and the love for the prog metal with a Nordic atmosphere.
After this in -depth analysis of the Oak's past and returning to the present day, the fourth work “The Third Sleep” speaks of issues such as the current state of society and the inner battles of each individual, and does it by now throwing a brilliant light, as in the melodic “Run Into the Sun” with the Gilmourian sounds, or making us sink into the gloomy pessimism of “Borders”, with instrumental parts. hypnotic and sense of oppression, up to jazz or acid jazz insertions with the winds of the introductory song “No Such place” and in the final “Sensory Overload”, with its crescendo that leads to the only growl that recalls, in fact, the writing of the songs of the Opeths.
Mature sounds, very suspended and never hasty, continuous flow of atmospheres that start airy and virano towards the globs and syncopated passages: all this is reflected in an intimate work and of large horizons, decidedly enveloping thanks to the arpeggios, the hot sounds and the set and expressive voice of Johannessen.
There are no great genre novelties, but in this fourth work the insertion of jazz passages give refinement and find the right balance: in this new “The Third Sleep” there are undoubtedly determined steps forward in the musical maturation of the Norwegian quartet, which will be well accepted by many fans of progressive, however opposed to some anonymous traces, such as the linear “London”, or some passages too derivative, References to the “Schism” tools in “Shapeshifter”.