After 2017’s Sect Burner EP, which contained far more elements of their blackgaze approach to metal, OAR underwent a couple of important personnel changes, almost by default altering their approach to their craft and allowing it to veer more into the realms of black metal without losing the essence of the band or their sound.
The result is The Blood You Crave – also the title track from OAR’s debut full length which will be released on January 7, 2022–a thunderous slab of metal that could best be described more as a musical journey than merely a single.
“Thematically, the song is about oppression,” explained drummer Mark Donaldson. “Overcoming oppression with violence and destroying yourself in the process of getting revenge. It is an eleven-minute track, so there’s plenty of time to explore that theme. I’d say it’s post black metal, cut in with doom musically. We’re drawn to miserable riffs … melancholier … to the point if someone suggests a riff in the room that even borders slightly on upbeat, it’s gonna get shut down. There’s a lengthy beginning section that runs to about 3 minutes at 200 b.p.m, and it slows right down in the middle then kicks back into a similar version of that first fast part then the rest of the song is a mid-paced doom riff that develops and progresses, so it’s a linear song. There’s no chorus, verse sort of structure. None of our songs have a chorus, verse structure.”
In the full interview Mark talks more about OAR’s different approach to this single, the upcoming EP and what to expect, their launch show on January 29, the running length of The Blood You Crave and more.
