Review: Bohren & der Club of Gore

After more than twenty years of plugging away with a familiar sound, one that combines jazz, drone, doom and many other genres into an agonisingly slow rhythm, Bohren & der Club of Gore released an album earlier this month which does little to change this sound.

Their classic sound has been affectionately refered to as ‘a black metal fan’s lounge jazz act’. I have to admit I don’t quite agree with that, maybe a doom metal fan would be more appropriate than black metal. Both subgenres capture the bleakness of the music, but for my money doom metal is more appropriate, as it describes the quintessential aspect of their music; the glacial pace at which it unfolds.

Piano Nights is the band’s eigth album, and according to the band, their best since 2002’s Black Earth, which is widely considered to be their opus. I have to add that Black Earth is a pretty adequate description of Bohren’s sound in general, as (although they more or less preceeded this development so it’s nothing more than a coincidence) it reminds me of a darker version of Earth’s recent work. To have this as their best since Black Earth of course leaves out, among other albums, Beileid, which is one of my favourites and features the familiar and (sometimes) comforting voice of Mike Patton in a cover of ‘Catch My Heart’ by German metal band Warlock. If this happens to suggest a sense of humour, forget all about that, because Piano Nights, despite what I find to be quite a funny album cover and the album name, is a seriously cultivated direction for the band, one which began with Christopher Clöser’s boredom induced jam on a grand piano before a show in Moscow.

The band’s studio iterations resulted in the use of a Yamaha electric piano, which I guess leaves a lighter impression on the listener than the booming register of a grand piano.

The result of the dominant new piano based approach is something that, in my opinion, is less dark than their previous aesthetic , one of the piano melodies even reminds me of Vince Guaraldi’s ‘Christmas Time Is Here.’ This may be something of an unflattering comparison, but only serves to underline the new sound, something more light and airy .

Having said that, structurally, Piano Nights is really not much different from Bohren and co’s previous releases. The music is like a lot of music I review, quite repetitive, often giving the impression that the music is about to stop solely by virtue of the sheer slowness of the music, and the empty air between each drum beat, which must be about 6 bpm.

This is not to say that it lacks a variety of moods. In the course of this slow, meditative journey, the listener encounters both comforting ambient-esque sax tones (although the band disapproves of this label) and more sinister sounding moments.

Piano Nights is a brilliant album for chilling out or working to, with its homogenous soundscape that throws out interesting moments of emotion with quite a minimal, almost invariant backbone.

My main criticism is that the album can get a little monotonous, perhaps Clöser’s piano playing isn’t versatile enough for such a dominant role in the music, with the result that many of the tracks sound the same. It’s possible that this will develop further should they continue to give piano such a big role in their music.

In spite of this, Bohren & der Club of Gore have produced another great slab of ambient doom jazz, which meanders beautifully throughout the album, giving a piece of work that will please die hard fans and new fans with a love for slow, emotive jazz alike.

Piano Nights was released