Smote Reverser

Album review

Thank you, John Dwyer. Whether it's Thee Oh Sees, OCS or Oh Sees, it doesn't matter. Now he silver-tongued Californian's prodigious genius has thrown up the frenetic Smote Reverser. One year, almost to the minute, since the more reasonable ORC. The change didn't take long: the beast has transformed into an apocalyptic monster, with a pretty worrying sleeve. Don't be fooled: Oh Sees hasn't gone metal. No, Smote Reverser is a black Mass of psychedelic rock, garage, prog, stoner and noise music, with a heavy bass and a powerful rhythm section. But not only that. Between the heavy surging of Overthrown, with its mad guitars and drums, and the twelve-minute Seventies jazz-funk incursion of Anthemic Aggressor, Dwyer's virtuoso followers know how to pile beautiful nightmare on beautiful nightmare. As with the excellent Moon Bog and its unsettling whispers ("I Lie, moon light, Hoof beat, asleep, Black dream, retreat, Dawn creeps asleep"). The pseudo-ballad Last Peace gives way, three minute in, to a saturated cosmic guitar trip. And then there's the instrumental Flies Bump Against The Glass and its palette of effects. So there is nothing superfluous in this 21st album, where Dwyer moves from between construction and arson, luxury and catastrophe. It is a compelling spectacle. © Charlotte Saintoin/Qobuz