Oathbreaker

We knew there was something special about Oathbreaker from the very beginning, and their blossoming has been a thing of great wonder. This year’s surreal Rheia, which has been popping up on an incredible amount of best-of-2016 lists, has had an extraordinary emotional impact – a stark, feverishly organic tour de force where vocalist Caro Tanghe delivers the performance of a lifetime – and with it they seem to have transcended any style boundaries that might have remained before. Oathbreaker are in their own league now, and the kind of envelope-pushing band we love receiving and celebrating at Roadburn.

It looks as though John Dyer Baizley is on the exact same wavelength as us, which is why he has selected them to take part in his curated event during Roadburn 2017.

“In the past few years, I’d been getting a nagging feeling that there was a record that NEEDED to come out; which would speak directly to me, as a longtime devotee of powerful, anti-categorizable, accessible-yet-challeging music. I had no premonition what form that band would take, whether they’d be an older, legacy act, or something fresh and as-yet-unheard. I am a “hook-line-and-sinker” believer in the transformative, universally communicative, yet indefinable power that music holds exerts.

“There is simply no other art form that has such immediate and tactile control over human emotion. A three-minute song can transport it’s listener through the emotional length and width of the greatest novels, the most transcendent films, and the most visceral visual art. So, of course, it seems only a natural fact that I both expect and demand this trait be present in modern music of all types, which reaches ambitiously towards the profound heights and lofty precedents that music’s history has laid out before us.

“The robust musical climate too 2016 has offered up many amazing recordings, but it wasn’t until I heard Rheia that the full chord was struck. This is the album I had been waiting for, not just from Oathbreaker, but from ANYONE. Therein exists a healthy reverence and understanding of the genres it references; yet it’s a record that is beholden to no style, genre or convention. There are layers upon layers of sound that recall black metal, pop, indie, hardcore, shoe-gaze, you-name-it; yet as I listen, I am aware of none of this, it has been presented so artfully and with such earnest and unpretentious conviction. It is an album in service off its songs. I’m not left wondering why or how this record was made, but more importantly, why there aren’t MORE of these records coming out.

“Then again, music can be such a subjective and personal experience, perhaps my enthusiasm is something best kept under wraps. Not a chance! I can think of no good reason to bite my tongue and mask my own excitement. Oathbreaker are an incredible band, both on record and onstage (I’ve been fortunate enough to sit-in with them recently, when they played my hometown.) Their upcoming set is a must-see, must-hear, must-bear-witness moment during Roadburn 2017. I urge you to familiarize yourself with this album, in order that you can experience the increase in power that they bring to a live setting.”

Oathbreaker will perform as part of John Dyer Baizley’s curated event on Friday, April 21 at the 013 Venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands.

Roadburn Festival 2017 will take place April 20-23 at the 013 venue, Tilburg, The Netherlands. Tickets are now on sale!