Christianity is a weird thing. It has a much darker side than its followers are willing or maybe even are able to admit, and its claws are in everything. For example, in this country, more and more public policy is using the Bible as a guiding force, despite its tenets not applying to all of the people it would govern. This is hardly a new phenomenon, as we’ve seen this same thing repeatedly for centuries.

Roots of the Old Oak aren’t explicitly pasting that message all over their thunderous debut full-length “The Devil and His Wicked Ways,” but those lessons sure are baked into the DNA. Over eight doom-drenched, death-driven pounders-, the band—vocalist/guitarist Pete Rowland, bassist Mike Rowland,
drummer/vocalist Stuart R. Brogan—pay homage to the old gods, to whom their reverence remains, and stand in defiance with those who fought the arrival of Christianity so many years ago and had it rammed down their throats. The music here is powered by the refusal to give in and is painted generously by metal’s great history and the sounds that made it a force with which to fight back.

“I Defy Thee” opens with wind whipping, whispers riding the waves, and the power crashing down, a doomy and dark storm making the beginning foreboding. The playing feels ceremonial at times, regal at others, always devastating as the funereal pace storms and dissolves into the earth. “Cheating the Hangman” brings buzzing riffs and muscular growls, the playing even leaning toward gothy at times. “I will not beg, I will not scream,” Rowland howls rebelliously, the drubbing and lurching fire eating away at your physical well-being. “Forest Dweller” has the bass crawling through fire, the growls churning, and the melodies brawling with precision. The pressure builds as the playing hisses, snarling over churning guitars and a battering ram force that can knock down walls. “A Ballad of Two Ravens” is a quick instrumental piece with birds cawing, clean guitars feeling like ice melting in early spring, spilling back in time to a place you feel like you’ve visited before.

The title track has keys draining, doomy death growls crawling through the puddles that are increasingly growing larger. The guitars slur as organs disorient, the mucky pace bleeding from wounds that won’t congeal. The growls add menace, the title is howled and chews on bone, and everything drains into “Cosmic Dark Age” that mangles and crushes from the start. Muscular and steely, the playing adds to the ferocity, a wicked dialog gives a nightmare vibe, and the wail of, “No light, a starless void,” pays even more respect to the horrors over the horizon. “Allfather (A Wanderers Tale)” just smokes, the guitars adding to the heat, a swampy vibe making your body quickly lose all strength from your muscles. The misery always seems to be over your shoulder, spreading as the cloud cover increases, keys glaze, and thunder pummels as this instrumental piece boils under the emerging sun. Closer “Take the Throne” is trudging and hot, retching growls spilling stomach acid on the ground. Persistent blasts make for a muscular display as ominous winds begin to blow, the guitar work turns warmer, and the final embers glimmer and succumb to the storm.

“The Devil and His Wicked Ways” is a record that might delve into history but feels awfully relevant today as the intrusion of religion never seems to lose its fire. Roots of the Old Oak spend their meaty, driving debut record reliving the scourge and treating it with doomy, drubbing power that refuses to give an inch and is hungry for the battle that’s to come. This is a punishing record with a warning about events that took place in the past that can rebound and attack us any time, any place if we’re not ready and willing to confront that oppression.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/ROTOOBAND

To buy the album, go here: https://napalmrecords.com/hammerheart

For more on the label, go here: https://www.hammerheart.com/