OKWAHO is an extreme metal band from Greece who formed in 2015.  'The Usurper's Regime,' is their second full length album; they also released a demo the same year they formed. Me?  I'm a huge metalhead, it is pretty much all I listen to with few exceptions, and what do I say?  I say embrace it.  Embrace the anger, hate, and contempt.  Because that stuff is real. It is life.  Running towards it is the best way to confront it.  So all metal isn't angry.  That's true.  But some is.  And sometimes that anger channels into good music.  In the case of OKWAHO's 'The Usurper Regime,' it translates into damn great music.

OKWAHO's music is extreme to the tenth degree but still varied.  Based upon the songs on this album, I think the best way to describe them would be "a heavier version of CULT OF LUNA' without as many layered post elements.  This is definitely sludge/doom but it also, by association, has hints of hardcore within and it most definitely has black metal elements, especially near the end. The album begins with 'The Burden Of Thousand Murders.'  The clean notes and bass are a dark prelude of the horror to come.  Once the drums come in, the nervous energy builds up and explodes in huge, beastly growls from Giorgos.  His style of playing creates thick doom riffs with the sharp, dirty edges of sludge outlining the notes. Bob Sword's bass is every bit as destructive ,offering up a full sound that is the audio equivalent of an earthquake. Andreas Bikouvarakis' drums are powerful yet crisp and clear.

The song is at its most potent when it slows to clean textures around the the 4:23 mark, reaching the climax but never stopping-it just builds up again for another hike towards the summit. Both parts of 'The Mermaid,' are disturbing, harrowing, scary, and so damn emotional. These songs tell the story of fleeing refugees, through the eyes of a small child.  These two songs, with part one being more of an intro that sets up the story, have stuck with me for a long time and I have found myself listening to them over and over. The second part is as black and tumultuous as the sea in which the story takes place.   Each note, each riff, each drum beat is an impenetrable darkness on an endless voyage of the damned.  The quiet parts are just as hopeless and they mix well in an ethereal way against the churning of the metal parts.  The last couple minutes are ridiculously intense and by the time the spoken word ends the song, my inner core was shaking.

'Safe In Enslavement,' spends its first two minutes with clean notes, clever drumming, and deep bass working its way towards the deluge just past the two minute mark.  Slow, dark, crushing...the song grinds at a snail's bass, each musical movement digging deep into the skin and leaving behind scars that won't soon heal.  Some of the best, and most brutally doomed out sludge, can be found in this song.  As I pushed forward and waded through the nightmare, I found that my journey never really got easier.  By the time the song faded out, I was emotionally drained but also satisfied with just how damn potent and unrelenting the album is.

OKWAHO's 'The Usurper Regime,' is an urgent, twisted, yet truthful album that takes the listener on an incredibly dark journey through the world's horrors. This album is yet another win for the pantheon of great metal releases from Greece.