Osees
Protean Threat
Release Date: Sep 18, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Castle Face
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Album Review: Protean Threat by Osees
Great, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
When a band have released as many albums as Thee Oh Sees, or as they are known now Osees, it would make sense that occasionally they would put out a dog, or at the very least some fraying around the edges may start to show. John Dwyer and his crew show no signs of letdown, burnout, or stagnation on 2020's Protean Threat, the group's 300th record, more or less. It's just as weird, fiery, hooky, strange, and avant-punk as anything they've released; the unbroken hot streak they're on continues to throw off sparks like an overheating amp that's about to catch fire.
Based on rating 7.5/10
It's been over two decades into the catalog of Osees, and Dwyer continues to tweak the formula. The blistering garage punk, hazy psychedelia, and Krautrock synth noodling that have come to form the pillars of Osees' music are all tightly packed into concise forms and delivered at a brisk pace here. Fortunately, the tracks do not feel truncated. In stripping the indulgences back, the band delivers the best aspects of their fuzzy guitar freakouts without sacrificing the groove-based jams.
Based on rating 7/10
In an era of rampant hyperbole and fake news, there's one singular truth; John Dwyer has never made a bad album under his Thee Oh Sees variations. After a trio of prog influenced, nearly-metal releases as Oh Sees, the current lineup have eased back into their psychedelic garage rock sounds, while slightly changing their name to Osees. Twenty-three LPs in, the San Francisco quintet roll out their tried-and-true blueprint and scribble some minor adjustments throughout this 13-track, 39-minute album.
Opinion: Excellent
Protean Threat by Oh Sees John Dwyer's 23rd album as Osees (variously spelled) is a monster, the best in ages, raising the wild animal spirits of garage rock abandon and locking them down in precisely drawn, tightly played arrangements. The heat of the moment meets the chill of open-ended hypnogogic drone here as short blasts of unhinged guitar play are fitted into rhythmic boxes (see the squeals of wah wah bursting out of "Toadstool"'s rigorous groove) and presented for your approval. There are two excellent drummers pummeling simultaneous kits, the yelp of tortured guitars, the squiggly wonder of space-age keyboards.
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