You get about three minutes into the second track before The Osedax break out the blastbeats, and that’s fine. By then the Virginian three-piece have churned their way through the post-metallic opener “Offen” and soon enough they’ll roll the track in question, the 14-minute “Beacon/Ox Eye,” to a suitably massive and thoughtful conclusion. They’re no strangers to longform work, as their 2015 outing, Titans Lament also showcased, but they wear the atmospherics well on the Meridians, which is their forthcoming third long-player, due out in January like the headline says.

There are a total of four cuts on the album, with “Beacon/Ox Eye” followed by the drone-first-then-all-the-pummel-followed-by-an-even-more-horrifying-moment-of-clarity “White Horse/Tempest” and the concluding “Ratlines,” which at a mere 7:22 is the only song under 11 minutes long and comprised totally of Twin Peaks-soundtrack-esque minimalist ambience, as it would almost have to be. I’ll take it, particularly after the sundry furies and feedback that lead up to its arrival.

The PR wire has release details and links. No audio yet, but it’s worth noting that The Osedax issued their debut album in 2010. The second record, as noted, followed in 2015. A third in 2020 puts them on an every-half-decade pace. If it’s not until 2025 that they do a fourth, at least they’ve given their listeners plenty to chew on in the prospective interim.

Cover art and whatnot:

The Osedax – Meridians

Release: 17 January 2020

Virginia is a hotspot for bands moving within sludgy circles, but one band who excel within the newer class are The Osedax. Named after a bone-burrowing deep sea worm, their music is similarly infectious as it worms its way into your system. Now on their third major release, Meridians, the group push their blend of atmospheric sludge/doom/post-metal to new heights, and the results are devastatingly effective.

Each track takes its sweet time to warm up, but once the drums kick it’s worth the wait. The Osedax perfectly capture the deep-water experience in all its forms, whether floating in a wash of guitar static, trudging through muddy riffs and melancholic synths, or – the pièce de résistance – when the band kick “Beacon / Ox Eye” and “White Horse / Tempest” in the guts with frantic blast beats akin to black metal like Downfall of Gaia. In addition, slimming down to a trio has had no ill effect on the band’s potency – the shared vocals flow between harrowing yells à la Neurosis and creature-like shrieks. The overall effect is cavernous, a sound that envelops and simultaneously destroys eardrums.

If you weren’t already familiar via Delayed Response or Titans Lament, then Meridians should be mandatory listening for fans of the above-mentioned genres, and who like floating at the bottom of the ocean.

Tracklisting:
1. Offen
2. Beacon/Ox Eye
3. White Horse / Tempest
3. Ratlines

The Osedax are:
Mike Horn (Bass/Vocals/Synth) – ex Psyopus / Mod Flanders Conspiracy
Scott Coldwell (Guitar/Vocals) – ex Mod Flanders Conspiracy
Kevin Grevey (Drums/Percussion) – Gloom

https://facebook.com/theosedax
https://theosedax.bandcamp.com/

The Osedax, Titans Lament (2015)

Acts are traveling from as far as Colorado to play, but even more than the geographic pull, the stylistic breadth of the inaugural Shadow Woods Metal Fest and the concept of the event are what really stun. Set to take place Sept. 25, 26 and 26 in White Hall, Maryland, the festival brings together bands from black metal, various incarnations of dark folk, psychedelia and doom for a three-day camp-out that’s as much an experiment in form as in style. Midnight headline — and if the thought of watching Midnight in the woods doesn’t appeal to you, you’ve probably never heard the band — and the likes of Iron Man, Heavy Temple, The Flight of Sleipnir, Occultation, Hercyn and Hivelords will play, among many others, on two stages that come complemented by workshops of various kinds, food and even yoga sessions.

Tickets are only being sold in advance, and if the thought of doing ritual black metal yoga in the forest isn’t enough for you, the whole thing is BYOB, so you can basically roll up with a cooler in your trunk and fantasize about an underground metal utopia where everything’s off the grid and everyone who sucks lives somewhere else. There are only 350 spots available, and I have no idea how many are left.

There is a lot of information below. If you take away anything from this, though, take away how fucking impressive I think the scope of this whole thing is and how deeply I hope they pull it off with no snags and it becomes an annual event. Also take away the ticket link, or, you know, click it.

Dig it:

SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST: Inaugural East Coast US Open Air/Camping Metal Fest

In just two weeks, the inaugural installation of SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST — the new mid-Atlantic, open-air, camping-based metal fest — kicks off, the gathering running from September 25th – 27th, 2015, in White Hall, Maryland, about thirty minutes north of Baltimore.

At the debut SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST, thirty-six bands will perform over Friday and Saturday, with lead performances from Midnight, Falls of Rauros, Occultation, Velnias, Iron Man, The Flight of Sleipnir, Dweller In The Valley, Dreadlords, Stone Breath, and many more. SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST will also be the first live performance for the surviving members of Wormreich since their tragic vehicle crash in April. The gathering showcases underground black, doom, death, and noise and experimental metal bands on three alternating stages all day Friday and Saturday. Camping and workshops on topics such as runes, guitar maintenance, yoga and more will be offered and are included in the ticket price. Artists and record labels will be vending alongside several onsite food stands.

Ticket purchasers will be given the exact street address. There will be ZERO ticket sales at the gate for SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST — advance presales to those 21 years of age and older is the only way into the fest, which is also BYOB. Tickets go off sale at 9 am on Friday, September 25th, the official time the gates open. There are only 350 tickets in total to be sold, and three-quarters have already been snapped up. For complete details and links to tickets and the fest merch store with exclusive art prints and t-shirt designs, go to www.shadowwoodsmetalfest.com

The bands chosen to perform SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST reflect the diversity of the underground music scene in the mid-Atlantic region plus a few from across the country. Official sponsors for the fest include Grimoire Records and MusicfortheDead.com.

SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST is a production of Metallomusikum.com of Baltimore, with promotional support from Lokvlt Productions in Philadelphia, WinterForge Promotions in Pittsburgh, Leftover Pizza Productions in Frederick, Maryland and Slimehole/Strange Matter in Richmond, Virginia.

SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST 2015 Alphabetical Lineup:

Anicon (New York, NY)
–black metal

Ashagal (New Hope, PA)
–Ritual folk

Black Table (NJ/NY)
–Experimental metal

Bridesmaid (Columbus, OH)
–Instrumental Doom-Sludge

Cladonia Rangiferina (MD, VA)
— ritual black metal, doom, acid rock

Dendritic Arbor (Pittsburgh, PA)
–metal; Grimoire Records

Destroying Angel (Philadelphia, PA)-
–Folk music for exorcisms

Dreadlords (Philadelphia, PA)
–Ritual black metal blues; Not Just Religious Music

Dweller in the Valley (Frederick, MD)
–Black, death, doom; Grimoire Records

Existentium (Baltimore, MD)
–melodic technical death metal

Falls of Rauros (Portland, ME)
–folk/atmospheric black metal; Bindrune Recordings

Fin (Chicago, IL)
–black metal; Behold Barbarity

Heavy Temple (Philadelphia, PA)
–psychedelic doom; Vàn Records

Hercyn (Jersey City, NJ)
–atmospheric black metal/post-rock

Hivelords (Philadephia, PA)
— experimental psychedelic black doom; Anthropic Records

Immortal Bird (Chicago, IL)
–black/death metal; Broken Limbs, Manatee Rampage

Iron Man (MD)
–doom metal/heavy rock; Rise Above Records

Midnight (Cleveland, Ohio)
–Black heavy metal; Hells Headbangers Records

Occultation (New York, NY)
–doom metal; Profound Lore Records

Oneirogen (New York, NY)
— dark, doom, drone; Denovali, Shinkoyo

Psalm Zero (New York, NY)
–experimental black doom; Profound Lore Records

Sangharsha (New York, NY)
–blackened hardcore; Alerta Antifascista Records

Sentience (Woodland Park, NJ)
–death metal

Slagstorm (Hagerstown, MD)
–prehistoric doom thrash

Snakefeast (Baltimore, MD)
–jazz metal sludge; Grimoire Records

Stone Breath (Red Lion, PA)
–experimental folk; Hand/Eye Records

The Day of the Beast (Virginia Beach, VA)
–blackened death metal

The Expanding Man (Baltimore, MD)
–solo improvisational electronic soundscapes

The Flight of Sleipnir (Denver, CO)
–black metal; Napalm Records

The Osedax (Leesburg, Va)
–black doom; Dullest Records

The Owls Are Not What They Seem (York, PA)
–experimental ritual soundscapes; Eleventh Key

Unsacred (Richmond, VA)
–savage black metal; Forcefield

Velnias (Denver, CO)
–blackened folk/doom metal; Eisenwald

Wormreich (Huntsville, AL & Nashville, TN)
–black metal; Moribund Records

Wrath of Typhon (York, PA)
–heavy metal; Eleventh KEY

ZUD (Portland, ME)
–bluesy outlaw black metal

http://shadowwoodsmetalfest.com
http://www.facebook.com/shadowwoodsmetalfest

Heavy Temple, Live in Hagerstown, MD, March 15, 2015

One key difference by my estimation between the first generation of Southern US sludge and the second is the lack of punk influence. Where bands like Eyehategod, Crowbar and Bozzov*en had more than a little hardcore in their sound, what seems to be more of the focus now in the genre is the slow rhythmic churn, the heavy, growled or screamed vocals and (perhaps this is the biggest difference between the two waves) a kind of artistic awareness of what they’re doing. Bands like Rwake, Inter Arma, haarp and now Virginian upstarts The Osedax subscribe to a new definition of sludge that takes just as much of its atmosphere from extreme metal as from the vaunted “slow southern steel” of its predecessors. On The Osedax’s hour-long self-released debut full-length, Delayed Response, the four-piece wind their way across eight mostly-extended tracks (all but two over seven minutes) and a sound that will come off as familiar to many who’ve kept up with the genre’s direction over the last several years, but also has subtle undertones of neo-progressive individuality that come across periodically in the tracks.

Delayed Response is a first album stylistically, but it’s worth noting that the production of the record itself – an area where so much sludge is lacking – is stellar here. Guitarist Scott Coldwell recorded and mixed the album at Linear Sound in Fredricksburg, Virginia (the town around which much second generation Virginian sludge has been based; see also VOG, Lord, etc.), and he does an excellent job bringing out the thickness in his own instrument and the bass of Mike Horn while still allowing Josh Albright’s vicious layers of growling to cut through without being overbearing. Albright is almost a part of the rhythm section, along with Horn and drummer Kevin Grevey, but his level of proficiency in the extreme end of vocalizing goes beyond what usually passes for screams in metal. Still abrasive, but accomplished, well-arranged and not necessarily as unipolar as they might seem on first listen, Albright’s throat is what ties The Osedax most to groups like the aforementioned New Orleans outfit haarp, but all across Delayed Response, there’s an energy to his performance and an abrasive vitality that, balanced as well in the mix as it is by Coldwell, makes it one of the album’s greatest strengths.

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