Dormant - Beneath the Mighty Oak (2007)

Formed after Todd Paulson's previous project (Uvall) had reached its end, burned and charred black; from within the still smoldering pile of ashes arose a new project called Dormant.

Dormant unlike his somewhat more straightforward previous solo projects is a very striving undertaking that combines black metal, post rock, ambient and neo folk music to form a unique sound.

‘Black Ashes,’ one of my favorite songs on this release opens the album on a rather melancholic note with lightly plucked acoustic guitars, softly spoken vocals, and what sounds like a trumpet or trombone in the background. This song which features Andrew Curtis-Brignell of Caina fame on vocals for the most part stays rather calm throughout its near six minute duration expect for the distorted electric guitar in the background that pops up about half way through. ‘I am the Wind on the Horizon’ sounds somewhat influenced by Agalloch’s ‘The Mantle’ as it has a sort of progressive black metal/post rock sound to it, and similarly it starts out slow and eventually gains in speed and continues on for over twelve minutes alternating between fast and slower sections. Todd’s vocals are first heard on this song and they come in the form of a black metal voice, though not nearly as harsh as the voice he used in Uvall, and in fact easy enough to understand.

‘Sighs’ is a neo folk sounding piece based around an acoustic guitar, violin, and spoken vocals that tend to remind me of Ordo Rosarius Equilibrio, but it may just be the vocals and the lyrics. ‘Beneath the Mighty Oak’ at least in the beginning shows off the strongest black metal influences with fast guitars, percussion and orchestral keyboards leading the charge, but quickly segues into acoustic and post rock sections which leads to a hammered dulcimer part played by Celestiial’s Tanner Anderson; eventually the song closes out with more acoustic guitars, dark ambiance, and wolf howling samples at the seven minute mark.

At nearly seventeen minutes, ‘Ever More Darkening Earth’ is the longest song on the album and definitely one of the best, featuring basically all the sounds and influences from the previous songs, but all nicely packaged together on this admirable lengthy progressive song. ‘The Creation of Hell (Alli's Song)’ is another neo folk sounding piece but with a somewhat more militant edge than the previous one and with a more stern voice. Curiously the album then ends with over six minutes of bugs chirping and fire burning, but on the other hand the album does have a very ‘woodsy’ feeling to it so maybe it isn’t entirely unnecessary.

Suffice to say, ‘Beneath the Mighty Oak’ is indeed a grand debut release from Todd Paulson. There’s very little if anything negative at all to say about this release and if you’ve found yourself enjoying a lot of the folk influenced black metal acts that have been rising around North America in recent years then you’d do well to check out this release.