Oryx are a sludge metal band from the US and this is their fourth album.
I enjoyed 2021’s Lamenting a Dead World a great deal, so I knew I had to check out Primordial Sky. Across 41 minutes Oryx once again deliver a weighty slab of blackened sludge doom that’s more expressive than most.
Oryx’s combination of thick sludge metal despair with a foundation of traditional doom metal melancholy is richly achieved. The blackened elements are more pronounced this time around, and bring a layer of additional atmospheric depth to the table. The select use of synths and acoustic guitars add further texture to the album. The songs balance their influences well, and every one of the four tracks has a presence and personality of its own, despite being cut from the same tar-like cloth as its siblings.
The songwriting is strong, allowing Oryx to build songs that are underpinned by emotive substance. The music drips with dark feeling and grim atmosphere. Dynamic, nuanced, and with enough melody to hold the listener’s attention while they drown in the caustic distortion, the music is a captivating proposition if you have taste for this sort of poison. The growls are once again as black as deepest night and absolutely abominable. The screams are demonic and serrated, but the growls I could listen to all damn day. Dark, bleak, and heavy, but with enough of an emotive base to shine, Primordial Sky is Oryx at their best.
Oryx are back, bigger and better than ever. Primordial Sky is the sludgy doom album I’ve been waiting for all year. Crushingly heavy, ripe with malevolent atmosphere, yet rich in emotive spread; Oryx’s latest album is well-realised and massively enjoyable.
Essential listening for doomheads everywhere.
Wonderbox Metal 
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