(label)
23 October 2015 (released)
18 November 2015
The enigmatic Opium Denn is shrouded in mystery – quite literally as he’s always veiled from head to toe like progressive rock’s answer to Sia. Little is known about the musician – he is no more a person than a persona; an illustrative personification of the unknowingness of life. His music strives to resemble the ambiguity of his guise as it promises a different interpretation from each listener.
‘Demarkation’ is Opium Denn’s nine-song, 37-minute concept album which is really just a fancy way of saying that each of the songs support a single theme. The man (at least I think that’s what he is) from ‘everywhere and all time…’ delivers a poetic divination that takes you on his emotional and spiritual journey.
Opium Denn tries to articulate psychedelic, mystical and profound introspections that aren’t exactly rooted in reality, but aren’t entirely drifting celestially away from our scope of contemplation either.
Stylistically it’s very reminiscent of bands like Blue Oyster Cult and Pink Floyd with Van Halen licks. There’s very little outlandish about the majority of the arrangements but there are a few bold moments of experimentation that you get from all good alternative projects.
‘Demarkation’ pervades energy and appetite. Its poise stands out amongst its transcendental ponderings. Personally though, I feel like, for all the nonconformist posturing, there is a noticeable 80s hard rock conventionality about it – particularly musically. ‘Leaf’ is possibly the most atypical song with its soulfulness, employing wah-ing guitars and a jazzy bass. But if you run through the predominance of the album, you can’t help but imagine songs like ‘A Drone’, the ‘I Am A Feeling’ trilogy and especially ‘Eyes to the Sky’ scoring an shlock 80s action film. The sheer emphasis on guitar manipulation and accompanying pianos is just too distinguishable to ignore.
Opium Denn claims that his debut album has been enriched by Health-Science Enhanced Vibrations (HEV) and various other rhetorical devises. He knows how to make decent music but I don’t quite get a sense of the unbridled originality that he claims to enthuse into his music. Sure he’s obscure but so is my old man by 1:30am on a Friday night. And it definitely doesn’t add to his mystique…
