Blood of the Black Owl - Self-Titled

Blood of the Black Owl is the metal side of Seattle's Chet W. Scott, co-owner of Glass Throat Recordings, and the man behind the environmentally-themed, experimental/folk/ambient project Ruhr Hunter. Strangely, BOTBO'S debut begins with its weakest track. The mistake is almost fatal, as ten minutes trudge by with little change and weak, croaky vocals.

Like a Coffin Chasing the Womb...(excerpt)
Uwwalo (excerpt)

But the album rights itself afterwards. Unlike most doom metal, it's not "crushing," though it's plenty slow and occassionally heavy. The percussion seems to come from a machine; either that, or Scott is exceedingly steady on drums. The guitar tones, too, seem digital, or the product of solid state amplification instead of the typical throbbing tubes. Yet, as with Ruhr Hunter, Scott weaves in field recordings of animals and nature, as well as tribal drumming. The result feels vulnerable and often haunting.

The liner notes lack lyrics, but they fold out into a forest tableau; presumably the theme is nature. If so, perhaps it is of man vs. nature; here, man loses. The vocals are mixed way back, often materializing as ghostly howls. Reverb and gongs are cheap ways to achieve gravitas, but they work here. Piquant melodies and black metal tremolo picking help add texture. These are more mood pieces than songs - "doomed" rather than "doom."

Blood of the Black Owl originally came out in 2006 as a limited edition pressing handbound in leather. Bindrune reissued it last year in a more reasonable (though more environmentally unfriendly) conventional CD format. Encyclopaedia Metallum lists a new album, A Feral Spirit, which is evidently due out soon. BOTBO is available from Bindrune and Glass Throat's catalog.