Osees
Abomination Revealed at Last
DEATHGOD
When we spoke to Osees frontman and founder John Dwyer last year, he alluded to “greed and fear” as two lyrical themes heavily featured on his band’s then-new album, SORCS 80. “As an American, I see it everyday,” he explained. “People are scared, there’s a lot of rapid change.” In the year since, as always seems to be the case these days, it feels like a decade of change and upheaval has unfolded. Big tech has further gotten the US and global populace in its chokehold, climate disasters continue to sweep the world, and, of course, far-right populists are wreaking their fatally capitalistic and violently racist havoc seemingly everywhere you look.
Given this sociopolitical climate, it feels right that Osees have come up with their most overtly political album yet in the form of Abomination Revealed at Last, in terms of its lyrical as well as its musical attack. The relentless LA mob have turned into a relatively conventional punk band over the last five or so years. Following a prog era in the late 2010s—before which they were garage rockers, stoner-metallers, and freak-folkers—Dwyer and his shapeshifting band are currently plowing a particularly linear and pared-down style, one which, this time around, is put to enjoyably cutthroat use. While their 29th studio album isn’t as sparse or caustic as the band’s most “punk” effort to date thus far, 2022’s A Foul Form, these 12 new tracks feature copious sub-two minute ragers paired with visceral, imagistic titles like “God’s Guts” and “Infected Chrome.”
What really kicks Abomination Revealed at Last into top-tier Osees territory, however, is their incorporation of various other styles from within their discography into this lucid punk sound. Lead single “Flight Simulator” opens as an energetic, rhythmically inventive bop before digressing into an extended psych freakout, littered with discordant keys and hushed vocals. “Sneaker” also recalls the mid-2010s Thee Oh Sees era, making great use of the band’s signature double drummers.
However, nothing here feels like a cheap rehash. These moments are all fused to the band’s current oddball-punk mode with thrilling aplomb and help make this one of the most satisfying Osees albums in some time. Combine this with Dwyer’s lyrics that take an invigorating stand against the bastards currently grinding us down (choice example, via the wise closing track “Glitter-Shot”: “But lies keep the capitol alive / The tyrant needs attention to survive”) and you’ve got one of the most punchy and vital albums to be found within this great band’s mammoth discography.
