Tracklist:- Bloodlet
- Withered
- Beyond the Dark
- The Wrath to Come
- Clothed in Crimson
- Wielder of Plagues
- An Omen in the Dark
Way back in the misty past, an unsigned Canadian band
called The Beckoning released their full-length debut. In a year, time goes by, the world changes,
and music evolves. But Demystifying the
Oracle remains an intriguing record, well worth closer consideration. Written and recorded independently by man
and wife, Meghann and Roy Turple, then the only members of The Beckoning, it
set itself the challenge of “fuse[ing] the aggression of Extreme Metal with the
majestic ambience of Gothic soundscapes.”
And, in terms of sounds, everything’s there, from deathly
growls and deep bass, to screeching solos and pulsating strings. It is a trademark first revealed to many
metal fans back in 2010 via a youtube pre-release of the final track of the
album, An Omen in the Dark, which has since racked up several thousand views
and a host of positive responses. The track
certainly displays The Beckoning at their best. Opening to rumbling power chords cloaked in misty strings, the
song runs through harsh growls, set beneath melodic guitar riffs, before
reaching a moving interlude featuring female vocals against soft piano
accompaniment.
But what works for one six-and-a-half-minute track doesn’t
necessarily cut it for a whole album.
This an unfortunate truth for Demystifying the Oracle, for which the
band’s statement of musical intent exposes everything The Beckoning have to
offer. It’s everything and nothing:
“the aggression of Extreme Metal” turns out to be harsh growls, and “majestic
ambience”, thick, stringy orchestration.
By the second or third track, you’d be forgiven for
thinking you’d heard it all before. The
reason? Well, you just about have. The album displays a seemingly endless
capacity to – and patience for – recycle its own material, as chord sequences
display. The first two songs therefore
set out the two chord progressions which then go on to dominate fully half of
the album, neither one adventurous or particularly exciting. And what variation there is that follows
suffers from a similar lack of invention, as two and three chord harmonies are
rolled out to underpin mid-tempo, straight-beat rhythms and basic melodic lines
and riffs constructed from broken chords and short runs.
This is a shame, not least for the fact that, for all
their limitations, this is a band capable of pulling off some really good
sounds. To the opening bars, male
voiced sighs with the depths and emotion to shake the underworld itself rumble
through the thick musical textures.
Female vocals, meanwhile, are clear, graceful, and dignified throughout
– a welcome and, it would seem, deliberate break from the sugar-plum fairy frontwomen
of so many modern gothic outfits.
Guitar riffs and solos, for all their lack of technical imagination,
pull together effective and catchy melodies in rich tones. And there are some notable subtleties, as
well, especially in intros, with gently swaying themes playing in the fifth
track, Clothed in Crimson, while, in the background of Omen in the Dark, the
music beats to electronic pulses.
But Demystifying the Oracle too often seems like an
exercise in easy comforts. Synthetic
strings envelope the entire three quarters of an hour of music, wrapping basic,
rhythmless power chords and plodding drums beats in layers fluffy, musical
cling-film. Songs are generally long,
but rarely involve more variation than could justify an average, 4-minute
track. By the time that intriguing
intro to Clothed in Crimson arrives, expectations are well and truly set. Ears – nevertheless pricked in false
anticipation of novelty – are quickly disappointed as the delicate interplay of
gently rattling guitars and snares dissolves into the regular, two-chord
howly-growly sludge. At least there’s
no questioning the musical effect.
Forget ambience; by the end of an 8-minute track ever revolving between
two morose, string-clad themes, you’ll be virtually comatose.
None of this is helped by the quality of production. Spoilt by a wealth of modern technology and
talented amateur sound-technicians, expectations for unsigned bands’ recording
quality are now almost as high as for those with established labels. Amidst waves of tinny drums and plastic
synth strings, its clear this one isn’t going the same way. More irritating are instances of
questionable performance quality, most gratingly so with lurching guitar riffs
and solos which stagger drunkenly into the fray (all eyes here on track 2,
Withered).
None of this is particularly helpful to The Beckoning’s
overall aim in the album, which runs parallel to, and independent of, their
music. Whilst not advertising the fact
in their band description, they are motivated, above all, by a spiritual
mission, as explained in an interview from late last year:
We believe whole-heartedly
that the Bible is inerrant and that it is truly the Word of God. We approach everything through this
worldview, and “The Beckoning” is no exception.
Nonetheless, in a genre which frequently revels in
explicitly anti-theistic themes, The Beckoning are most certainly
exceptional. And it is, perhaps, the
most intriguing aspect of the band itself.
In pursuing their religious philosophy, The Beckoning see themselves as “Demystifying the Oracle”
in a dual sense. Most obviously, it is
an attempt at enlightenment of a world choking in amoral heresy (as in track 3,
Beyond the Dark: “Can’t you see/Through the night/Beyond the dark/A glimmer of
the light”). But, as the introductory
speech of The Wrath to Come explains, this is as relevant to those deceived by
religious establishment as it is to those led astray by atheistic heresy: “The
time for preaching hard is when people have become deceived by religion, and
when they think they’re something they’re not.”
There’s enough in this approach to hope for some new takes
on old questions, and from a somewhat novel perspective. Unfortunate, therefore, that none are delivered. Lyrics return to the
issues of internal struggle and discipline, sacrifice, and personal faith,
coughing up a series of worn clichés, from the literal reproduction of the sin
and virtue (“Conflicting desires of darkness and light”, track 2, Withered) to
biblicised promises of moral liberation for the believers (“Come away/From that
empty place/Where the blind lead the blind/To the gallows of despair”, track 3,
Beyond the Dark; “We once were slaves/But now we are free/We once were dead/But
now we live”, track 6, Wielder of the Plagues). By the time cookie-monster growls screech the
words “glorify him”, “justify him”, and “sacrafice”, as the final track, An
Omen in the Dark, draws to a close, you could almost be dealing with your regular, fanatical street preacher.
Once discovered on youtube way back when, The Beckoning
promised a great deal. With their first
full length release, they intrigue, at times entertained, but ultimately leave
disappointed. This was always a
terrific opportunity for an undoubtedly talented couple to bring forward an
interesting take on both the genre and its philosophy. Throughout, however, Demystifying the Oracle
is riddled with glaring flaws which hamper any all attempts at an effective
piece of work, from a dirge of original material to a general fear of serious
experimentation, which ensures both music and lyrics fall back on the most
comfortable of home comforts. This is
hardly helped by a message which quickly turns from a stirring rallying cry
into waves of self-righteous preaching.
Beckoning they might be, but I won’t follow.
Production: 2/5
Lyrics: 2/5
Album Cohesion: 2/5
Music: 5/10
http://thebeckoningcanada.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/thebeckoningcanada
"Demystifying the Oracle" is available as a free download from The Beckoning's bandcamp page, as is a more recent, 2-track EP, entitled "War".
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