I’d hate to start off a review with something negative, however, all attempts to avoid this fact have done nothing but stagnate my writing. Though Ogdru Jahad is fiercely entertaining, which you’ll find out how and why later in this writing, their sound has been constructed for what a LP is thought to sound like. As in, not what a LP does sound like but instead what you’d expect to hear: muffled and flat. This would be excusable if not for the horrifying mutilation of the vocals and drums – which feel as though they’ve been down-sampled to hell and sound like kids banging on old deer-skin drums. I have no idea why this is, especially considering the guitar and bass are recorded amazingly – not to mention, anyone reading this has no doubt heard some great LP recordings from all manners of underground and DIY artists. This brutal panning aside, in the end Ogdru Jahad’s I has some appeal… though, perhaps not enough.
No doubt, this album was made to inspire some sort of distain to those who view Ogdru Jahad harshly. The album art features all manner of Lovecraftian visions strewn across the crucifix: Jesus Christ narrowly avoids the tongue of a massive Angelic-Death-Iguana as some strange tentacle reaches up to wrap around him – at his feet are fish-attired people bathing in his blood. Yeah, there were some clear intentions on offending most and completely appealing to the types which drag this music up from its watery depths (that ‘type’ certainly includes me). As an added bonus, every song title echoes inspiration ranging from Hellhammer to Old Funeral.
Despite my previous complaints regarding sound quality, I do love the grinding sound that Ogdru Jahad presents here. It certainly rings back to my personal earlier days in writing music – where one wrote simply to make it loud and groove-like. Though, you aren’t really going to get much variety beyond sort of rising and lowering repetitive riffs that sort of just float after a while – the occasional solo tries to help with the monotony but really doesn’t help too much in the end. No doubt, anyone who purchases this album would most likely listen to the first few tracks and rarely consider the second side.
As I write this, I am also finding that Ogdru Jahad may be attempting to follow the rather faulty KVLT movement – which would explain the obvious attempt at flimsy quality. I do wish that Ogdru Jahad’s I was something I could suggest but I simply can’t. Some considerable improvement needs to be made before Ogrdru Jahad makes as big a splash as it wishes to with its art.
