Album Review: Oxygen Thief – Confusion Species

The adjective ‘awesome’ is bandied around so freely these days that when you have an opportunity to use it in its original and proper meaning – of instilling reverential fear and wonder – it seems to diminish that which it describes. But this truly is an awesome album from Bristol’s Oxygen Thief: a layered, thoughtful and intricate thing that is delivered with a tightly controlled and brutal power. But the blunt force trauma of the riffing and unexpected tempo changes are just the vehicles for main man Barry Dolan‘s lyrical angst. For all the extremely heavy duty and masterful musicianship, there’s a heart to these songs that reflects Dolan‘s dismay at modern life in an increasingly dystopian and bewildering landscape. Eloquent rage dressed up in a sonic assault makes this a record that reflects the ‘now’, but will stand as a testament to a time past, when the memories of today’s greater idiocies have mercifully faded.

It’s customary to give some kind of track by track breakdown of the album under review, but any kind of detailed analysis of this album’s 11 tracks would require more space than we have. The variety and richness even within individual pieces make this almost impossible to review song by song. Suffice to say, it’s an aural feast in every possible sense. Self-recorded in their own studio, Confusion Species is Oxygen Thief‘s third full-length album. Sonically, it’s a tour de force, simultaneously massive and intimate with moments of aural rock battery changing in a breath to moments of quiet introspection. What does it all sound like? Well, if you must make a comparison, it’s kind of what might happen musically if Prong and Therapy? got into a blender. Then overlay a biting and very personal, intellectual lyrical response to life in a post-Brexit, post-Trump environment. Sonic brilliance, but definitely not easy listening. But essential listening. And this is an album that you shouldn’t just hear. You have to listen.

Confusion Species is released on Xtra Mile Recordings on 16^th November.

You can pre-order Confusion Species here