Oktor - Another Dimension Of Pain (CD)

Review
Stu's Metal Reviews
8/10
17.05.2015

The Polish doom death metal band formed way back in 2003 and are now finally ready to present a full-length album after the years of artistic activity, several successful mini albums, compilations and participation in A Tribute to Skepticism! The long tracks alternate with exquisite piano preludes, as if inspired by Frederic Chopin, demonstrate the diversity of ideas: classical dense riffs and low-tempo interludes, a variety of vocals (from clean to growl), alterations of mood and rhythm … Clean sound of all instruments underlines the high quality of musicians many-years-long searching for their own style.

Well starts with a bloody piano intro as a seperate track and then gets going with the 12 minute piece 'Conscious Somatoform Paradise' and it's pretty good, nice mix of doom, melody and funeral doom like the different vocal styles from growls to clean, works well as does the beautiful slow and melancolic breakdowns with gentle classical precision.

My joy at this first proper song is knocked slightly when track 3 is another short piano filler, which as it acts as an intro to the next song, could (and should) have been at the beginning of the damn song, but anyway lets move to 'Mental Paralysis' (in more ways than one if its followed by another filler).
Now this is a beast of a track at nearly 18 minutes, starts with this almost prog rock sound of guitar and keyboard, then the dark vocals come in and the song begins to move towards some quite epic almost symphonic doom as it goes on some stunning backing vocals are added and then it all comes to a close with some simple and atmospheric piano.

Next track, yep you guessed it: Filler, i can see a pattern here this is a four track album divided into 8 parts!
So to 'Hemiparesis Of The Soul' another slow and quite symphonic intro with great clean vocal, its when the dark vocals come in that this song gets heavy and nasty, well for a while we then gets some quite jazzy basswork and drums in the middle and a mix of styles and samples at the end.

The last 2; 'Pain' (yep filler come intro) and 'Undone' really are an odd way to end, just very very quiet piano and a near whispered vocal.

Author: Stu Tovell

Review
Teeth of the Divine
19.05.2015

A slab of brute force melancholy from Poland, Oktor’s full-length debut after a string of mini-albums is a grandstand of kiloton riffs and lighter shading. They straddle the fence of sadness without getting too weepy for their own good and bring some of the heaviest guitar work I’ve heard in the death/doom across the eight tracks of Another Dimension of Pain. Cross the dirty grooves n’ somber atmospheres of Celestial Season with the hellbound dirge of Skepticism and some of My Dying Bride or even Morgion’s dynamic songwriting qualities, presto chang-o, you’ve got the illusionary madness of Oktor.

After setting the atmosphere proper with a trippy piano ballad “Another,” my ears were cast headlong into the riff dancing flames of “Conscious Somatoform Paradise.” These power chord salvos are HEAVY, like a dump truck full of anvil being dropped on your head. Once the meat of the track gets cookin’ it opens up into melodic, tranquil seas of textbook gothic doom with touches of psychedelia, a pounding percussive presence and the bass puncturing through the mix like a spear in the side of Christ. Vocally, the growls take hold first and they thick, sick n’ and destructive. The music is a very two side beast, dropping off into low frequency clean instrumentation where every note plucked is audibly classical in nature with the vocals turning into double-tracked narration (both spoken and distantly shouted…a pretty cool effect). Tucked deep beneath the veil is the slightest hint of Sabbath, which always perks my ears up. This isn’t stoner-rock by a longshot, but these guys swing and dip more than a lot of these morose sounding, in desperate need of a hug gothic-doom bands.

The album definitely unfolds in an arc of overlapping, interconnected ideas, yet another element that works to the band’s advantage. “Dimension” returns to piano after midnight instrumentalism (do you understand the placement and naming of these interludes yet?), giving way to the 17+ minute monster and easy album standout, “Mental Paralysis.” Patience is required for this one and the payoff is better than most promised Christmas bonuses. Violins, intricately threaded clean textures and sorrowful vocals will get you blowin’ in that hankie, until all sadness is ripped to fuckin’ shreds by hard-ass riffs that push-forward, throttle your neck and practically slam your ass up against a concrete wall. The harmonic guitars still weave their way into the mix as the song evolves into a Darwinian twist of iron-clad doom grooves and well-tapered melodies. At the 9:00 minute mark the driven power-chords really reach a crescendo, tossing n’ turning in the throes of a night terror while the vocals project straight from the bowels of Hell. Keyboards are tasteful and tasty, never tasteless throughout… If you’ve never heard the band before, this is the song you need for a proper conversion.

“Of” returns to wistful piano, calming the storm for the funeral parlor, melodic sludge heard on “Hemiparesis of the Soul.” Again the riffs are all about taking a groove and slapping it to shit with a bullwhip as vocals morph from expressive cleans to festering growls. The guitar work rises to some fantastic heights and the rhythm section locks into a death knell with last rites included. Cathedral and Celestial Season are coming into play pretty hard on this ashen dirge. Lead guitar lines continually cycle hypnotic, perpetual motion ripples that enhance the downtrodden drudge with a fistful of LSD. The couplet of “Pain,” a piano ballad without vocals and closer, “Undone,” a piano ballad with vocals ends the record on a subtle note, giving the battered mind a refrain from the grinding riffage.

Oktor is pretty sick. No complains to be had here. If you vibe on a combination of sludgy and serene, Another Dimension of Pain will give you a lot of mileage. I’m only somewhat into this type of stuff, so being blown away was a cool surprise. Damn killer stuff is you ask me…

Author: Jay S

Review
Pitchline Zine
7/10
14.07.2015

Tras un largo periodo vagando por las entrañas del Underground los polacos Oktor han decidido ofrecer su debut discográfico bajo el nombre de `Another Dimension of Pain´. Ha llovido desde que el combo polaco empezó a dar sus primeros pasos hasta llegar a este debut, más diez años, que se dice pronto, pero al fin lo hicieron, ya tienen disco debut, al fin muchos podrán saciar las ganas por conocer más de estos polacos.

Ante esto podemos asegurar que ya era hora de comprobar el verdadero poder que la banda atesora tras más de diez años en la escena y un puñado de grabaciones en formato EP o splits y alguna participación en tributos concretos (Skepticism) que realmente no median el nivel real de un grupo como Oktor. Ahora con este material posiblemente podamos medir las aspiraciones reales de un grupo vivo pero agazapado bajo la bruma de Varsovia.

Cuando Oktor, un grupo que lleva como decimos más de diez años funcionando, al fin decide editar su disco debut, existen ciertas ganas de ver que escondían tras el oscuro manto que envuelve su zona de creación donde las ideas fluyen y se les da forma decadente para luego mostrar y atormentar las mentes más débiles. Muchas ganas de presenciar la capacidad de transmitir lo que siempre les gusta y que es la razón por la que deciden escribir música, un gusto que radica en el género Doom / Death el cual han querido amoldar a su propio gusto.

Pues bien, acertadamente podríamos decir que el debut mereció la pena. Han grabado un buen disco de Doom / Death con ciertos giros que nos hacen mirar de frente el Funneral Doom. Un trabajo completo donde han sabido combinar varios aspectos que han hecho del disco una pieza entretenida para los amantes del género. A los decadentes golpes lentos y desesperantes propios del estilo, han añadido voces intercaladas donde tanto las voces limpias como las guturales quedan acertadamente expuestas en cada aparición en escena. La presencia de teclados en determinados momentos también dan un ligero aire sinfónico que ayudan a ensalzar la música. Las guitarras trabajan bien fabricando constantemente ritmos tanto para momentos duros y potentes como en momentos de auténtica meditación. Es tal la elaboración musical de estos tres músicos que el disco lo forman ocho temas de los cuales cuatro de ellos son cortas piezas instrumentales que actúan de antesala de lo que son los temas realmente principales. De los cuatro restantes, tres de ellos sobrepasa los diez minutos siendo el último corte el más breve de los cuatro no llegando a los cinco minutos de duración. Así que estamos ante un trabajo de casi una hora, cosa también casi predecible sabiendo el estilo del que hablamos.

Como dato, señalar que Matti Tilaeus de los míticos Skepticism aparece como artista invitado en el tema “Mental Paralysis”, un dato revelador de hacia dónde va la dirección de la música de esta banda polaca. Ahora la duda está si tendremos que esperar otros diez años para escuchar nuevo material de Oktor. Tras el buen resultado de este debut esperemos no haya tanta demora, el tiempo y el viento son una peligrosa combinación.

Author: Leviathan

Review
Aristocrazia
20.05.2015

Riceviamo nuovamente notizie da parte della Solitude Productions, etichetta che ormai è un saldo punto di riferimento per un pubblico musicale affamato di sonorità meste e funeree; e anche questa volta, come da buona tradizione, il gruppo preso in esame proviene dall'Europa Orientale e più precisamente dalla Polonia. Tuttavia, nonostante le proposte estreme originarie di questo Paese siano rinomate per essere spesso pregne di brutalità e blasfemia, tale recensione riguarda gli Oktor: il trio è attivo da una decina d'anni circa e "Another Dimension Of Pain" è il loro debutto sulla lunga distanza.

Il disco — ovviamente in linea con il campo d'azione dell'etichetta russa — è un compendio di tratti ereditati dalla struttura melodica del classico Death-Doom di matrice britannica, ai quali viene sovrapposta una consistente trama Funeral; purtroppo però quest'ultima non è così opprimente e soffocante quanto sarebbe lecito aspettarsi e il pathos ricreato viene troppo spesso interrotto dai malinconici intermezzi strumentali ("Another", "Dimension", "Of", "Pain"). L'impressione generata dall'insieme è che i Nostri non vogliano gettarci in un oceano di invivibile e soverchiante sofferenza, ma che desiderino piuttosto farci vagare all'interno di un limbo cupo e desolato, però paradossalmente ricolmo di venature ariose e speranzose.

La suddetta ambigua dicotomia è quella che si potrebbe considerare l'unica — purtroppo assai consistente — pecca di tale lavoro, poiché troppe volte pare venga eccessivamente diluito quel senso di dilaniante condanna esistenziale che dovrebbe invece essere il fulcro di un album Funeral: il suono è talvolta troppo morbido, non sempre incide e scava a fondo nell'anima dell'ascoltatore, mentre gli interventi in voce pulita sembra abbiano la specifica funzione di far calare la tensione psicologica fino a quel momento evocata. Per quanto musicalmente ben concepito, per quanto toccante sia la costruzione melodica presentata e per quanto formalmente interessante dal punto di vista compositivo, "Another Dimension Of Pain" non sempre assolve al compito di ricreare quel continuum empatico che dovrebbe instillare nell'uditore la tipica voglia di vivere che è caratteristica fondamentale di ogni opera di questo tipo; al contrario soltanto alcune — peraltro notevolissime — sezioni di pezzi come "Mental Paralysis" e "Hemiparesis Of The Soul" riescono a raggiungere vette di coinvolgimento davvero degne del percorso musicale intrapreso.

Insomma, il terzetto di Varsavia ha dunque dato vita a un lavoro che — lungi dall'essere disprezzabile — non convince appieno e non riesce a soddisfare a dovere le voglie dei navigati ascoltatori di Doom funereo. Non dimentichiamo comunque che questo è appunto un esordio e gli Oktor hanno quindi tutte le capacità e il tempo necessari per limare le ingenuità e i tratti più acerbi della loro proposta: attenderemo la prossima prova per valutare se saranno in grado di trasportarci davvero in un'altra dimensione di dolore.

Author: Dope Fiend

Review
Atmosfear Magazine №15
7/10

Прошло 10 лет с выхода первого EP этой группы и видимо по этому случаю в этом году музыканты всё-таки издали наконец-то свой первый полноформатный альбом. Что ж можно только поздравить поляков с выходом их дебютника и пожелать им, чтобы их труды не пропали даром, т.е., дабы их диск не затерялся в огромной массе подобных релизов. Особую изюминку этому релизу добавляет лирика на польском языке, хотя её тут совсем немного, только в припевах. В остальном же, типичный doom/death metal продукт, который не является таким уж дефицитом в наше время.

Author: CS