Band:	O Zorn!
Album:	Vermillion Haze
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal
Release date:	March 15, 2024
A review by:	F3ynman

01. Features
02. Slow Mood
03. Never Saw It Coming
04. I See Through You
05. New Suffer
06. I Got Mine
07. Cloud None
08. Richochet

“O Zorn!”—a cry of lamentation in the face of catastrophe, uttered by the rabbits of Richard Adams’ classic adventure novel Watership Down. From this, the US sludge band O Zorn! derive their name, and, fitting to the exclamation's meaning, their music mirrors these emotions of desperation.

Hailing from Long Beach, California, O Zorn! provide a musical style that’s quite hard to pin down. It’s clearly within the wide doom metal umbrella, but, once one looks closer, one starts to see a complex amalgamation of several styles. The pissed-off energy in some of the screaming vocals seems to take inspiration from hardcore punk bands like Barkmarket, while the heavy, fuzzy guitar sound is reminiscent of sludge bands like Crowbar. Mixing in elements of grunge, alternative rock, and stoner rock, O Zorn! deliver something that sounds familiar yet also quite fresh and, in the end, rather unique.

While their eponymous debut album provided music that was tough, mean, and heavy, their sophomore release “Your Killer” began to veer further away from that vile sludge and toward calmer, droning passages à la post rock. This trajectory has been continued on their third studio album, Vermillion Haze, in which O Zorn! seem to be further slowing down their approach, adding many melodic and melancholic sensations.

The instrumentation does a good job of creating a nicely mesmerizing atmosphere. Yet it’s clearly the vocalist Bill Kielty who steals the show here. His singing has stayed very versatile since their debut record, providing piercing cries of despair, wistful mutterings of sadness, and fierce barks that sound like a blending of Rob Zombie and James Hetfield. One of the main elements I look for when judging good music is the ability to convey emotion, and this is definitely the case with the singing of O Zorn!. On songs like “New Suffer”, there’s just so much palpable tragedy in each spoken word, enhancing the mournful rumbling of the guitars. Except for sounding a bit like a whiny country singer on the song “Never Saw It Coming”, the vocal performance on the rest of the album is really impressive, especially when the accompanying music soars to an impactful climax on songs like “I Got Mine” and “Ricochet”.

As mentioned before, Vermillion Haze largely deals with patient, melancholic moods and soothing, entrancing atmospheres. Yet it’s not all depressing. There are still plenty of groovy instances to which listeners can bob their head to. “Slow Mood” is a nice example of how to effectively combine the gloomy vibe with a catchy chorus. And “I See Through You” is an especially entertaining track, delivering crunchy, mid-tempo guitar riffing together with some of the vocalist’s most emphatic screams.

In conclusion, O Zorn! have once again released an impressive collection of doom rock songs. They’ve continuously developed their sound, creating rich melodies soaked in feelings of desperation and agony. Combining the ambience of doom metal, the slow groove of stoner rock, and an underlying, catchy energy reminiscent of ‘90s grunge, O Zorn! provide an emotionally resonant and aurally entertaining musical approach that undoubtedly deserves more attention.


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