Album: Devils In My Details
Artist: ohGr
Genre: Industrial
Year: 2008
Label: Synthetic Symphony
Once upon a time, I was an Industrial freak. It was my favorite genre, all my favorite musicians practiced it, it was a way of life. I fully acknowledge I know way too much about the genre, its roots, history and the people that populate it. In my mind, Industrial could be anything, the fault line between everything from Techno to Metal to Goth to Punk. It was Industrial that started my interest in musical collaboration. I used the Industrial super group Pigface (which has had over hundred different members) as a jumping off point into dozens of other bands. I’ve since branched out and listen to things from all over the musical universe, but Industrial will always have a place close to my heart. And so will some of the artists involved, Skinny Puppy being one of them. For the well adjusted, a little history: Skinny Puppy is a dark blend of electronic programming and gothic vocals that began life in the mid 80’s as the brainchild of cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre. The group collapsed in the 90’s due to internal strife and the death of third Puppy Dwayne Goettel but bounced back a few years ago, releasing some of their most bizarre work to date.
In the interim, Ogre began a new project titled ohGr (a highly original name) with producer Mark Walk (another Industrial freak) as his right hand man. The project was intended to take him in a bit of a different direction than Skinny Puppy, allowing for more Trip-Hop and IDM (that’s Intelligent Dance Music) influences. It’s not a huge step he’s taken away from Puppy, but it’s certainly there and informs ohGr with an often lighter sound than that of Skinny Puppy. I’m not saying its easy listening, it’s not Muzak Puppy, it’s just a bit less dark… or it was until now. This latest release from ohGr, Devils in my Details, successfully takes us back into the darkness that an Industrial godfather like Ogre should be capable of. Sunnypsyop, ohGr's previous album, was gloomy, but lent itself far more to the Electro side of things than the Industrial, giving it a slightly up lifting feel. That feeling is gone from Devils, leaving us with (dare I say?) a Synthetic Symphony of gothic darkness that out does ohGr’s previous release and measures up extremely well when compared to Mythmaker, Skinny Puppy’s most recent album.
Ogre’s warped vocals are the central focus of this carnival of horrors, acting as the sort of demented conductor of this dark and alien music. It’s no surprise that the sound of Skinny Puppy and ohGr have gotten closer together as they share two members in the form of Ogre and Walk, but the sound on Devils is far more Industrial proper than the more electrified sounds of Mythmaker, on which cEvin Key’s influence is more strongly felt. Without him, Ogre and Walk run wild, bringing in actor Bill Moseley to share in the fun. Moseley’s contributions to the album come in the form of outrageous spoken word pieces that pop up at the beginning and end of various tracks. Coming from a horror actor like Moseley, these pieces are both absurd and chilling. Devils is not a Skinny Puppy album, but it manages to be darker and more claustrophobic than Mythmaker which proves that Ogre doesn’t need Key to make great music. Standout tracks include the drum frenzy of the opener “Shhh”, the walls of blackened guitars that compose “Psychoreal” and horror of Bill Moseley’s rant on the big tent bouncer “Feelin’ Chicken”. For the well adjusted, this is a perfect place to get into industrial and in touch with your inner Goth.
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