You know what? There's just no point saying redundant shit like 'how great the old power trio format is' and 'how ridiculously superior 70s heavy rock is', in the intro to this review. Because, with Ogre, these things have already been established with their first two slabs, Dawn of the Proto-Man and Seven Hells. So if you like 70s influenced heavy rock with an overall doom vibe, these two albums are essentials. Since that is out of the way, there's an immediate need to get on with this exciting new album that I have on my hands here.

Plague of the Planet, their third album and Ogre have certainly taken everything up a few notches. They've tied up a couple of loose arcs from the first two albums and made a full blown concept album featuring only a 37 minute song. This would be among various things, pretentious and over-ambitious, coming from almost anyone else, especially considering it deals with topical issues like war-for-oil and such, involving primitive men and strange robots. But with phenomenal illustrations reeking of old-school comics ('Approved by the Comics Code Authority' is a nice touch) by Will Broadbent (also the drummer) along with great, tightly woven narration (lyrics) by Ed Cunningham (also vocals and bass), the concept has been delivered to us to perfection. I'm not proud of it or anything, but I hardly pay attention to the words, even with my most favourite music, unless it starts to bother me in a good or a bad way; but this stands to be one of the albums that I would always read through while playing it.

The fact remains that the concept, the words and the illustrations exist solely to support the music and we're dealing with a 37 minute motherfucker here. How do you think it fares? I'll tell you how it exactly fucking fares. For the sake of narration, the song is split into eleven parts, each handling a bit of the story and taking things forward, the vocal parts consisting of a verse or two and hence they roughly behave like a song by themselves (without the repeating choruses, fool). Depending on the part of the album you're currently listening to, you'll get things ranging from a late 70s style gallop trip, a few slow proto-doom sections, cool instrumental breaks including this crazy, noisy passage with synths to musically depict the war of doom. Special mention to my personal favourite, the final piece Dawn of the Proto-Man, which begins with clean guitar effects (similar to what's often heard on YOB/Middian) and Ed doing the near-talk and with the band slowly building up to the drawn-out heavy-ass climax.

Guitars are highly layered and the album transcends beyond the raw and dirty in great style, without getting anywhere near the pomp and clean territories. Ross Markintosh's intense riffing with ballsy and rich 70s-rooted lead guitar work often laced with wah, double tracking/harmonies and a rare slide(?) is always interesting to listen to and really drives the album. It's all so dynamic and matches the storyline perfectly. Ed's bass work is good and you hear him more during the instrumental parts, but it's his vocals that completely shine. He's got the high pitched nasal gnarl that he uses to dress his already great vocal lines, and it always gives me goosebumps. It's like Bon Scott singing for Sabbath/Pentagram gone prog rock. Will's drumming is very strong and is a definite part of the band's sound.

Production is very apt and hats off to Japan's Leafhound for backing the band without reservations. Plague of the Planet is completely special (even for kvlt standards of a dozen great albums every month) and is to be experienced as a whole at one sitting. They should put out a live DVD soon including this album in its entirety, because the bonus video footage included here is very awesome.

Year of Release: 2008
Label: Leafhound