A Very Old Ghost Behind The Farm - Primary Septagon

Written by Ulla Roschat.


The Horror Movie

“A Very Old Ghost Behind The Farm” - what a band name - a band name that sounds like the title for an old black-and-white horror movie telling old fashioned quirky nightmarish stories of spooky creatures that haunt you and unfold their subtle horror upon you.

AVOGBTF is a 4 piece Sludge Doom band from Toulouse/France, formed in 2009. Primary Septagon (2010) is their second release and first full length album. And indeed this album keeps the promise the band name makes. The band’s headstrong take on the Doom Sludge genre mixes punkish elements with the drug fuelled Doom, bluesy swampy Sludge and an occult atmosphere (the use of a theremin is very conductive to create this atmosphere) and turns the 7 songs of Primary Septagon into a movie of short of 50 minutes.

Right in the beginning rather uptempo punk tunes induce images of freakishly grinning little devils, dancing and whirling around and chanting spells. There are weeping noises. Is this the wind howling through the old farm house or the lament of tortured souls? The pace slows down and a bluesy southern swamp Sludge (there are even little hints of country tunes) adds a gluey sticky atmosphere. No doubt you’re out in the country, the right place to meet supernatural creatures that perform ancient diabolic rites.The raspy abrasive vocals hit you like the anger of a very old ghost who has been cursed since like ever and the curse can only be lifted when he scares someone to death and he is grimly determined that this someone be you. Occasional sweet guitar solos remind you that somewhere far away there’s something called normality, but out of reach for you since long. Gloomy back vocals and singing children scare the shit out of you. Then a weird trippy slowness drugs you up and in the end the ghost unleashes all his ancient horrors in a powerful rage to destroy you and all the little “punk” devils from the beginning are back to laugh and mock at you.

And here the septagon of 7 songs closes. Make sure you jump out of it, a second before it does so, or you’ll be caught in it and be cursed to scare someone to death like “The Very Old Ghost Behind The Farm” (7 words! is this a coincidence?)

All right, this is MY movie to this soundtrack, yours can be completely different, or maybe you’ll “only” be listening to a damn good headstrong Doom Sludge album that has a most distinct style.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]