On May 10, 2011, ohGr, the mechanized juggernaut spawned by Skinny Puppy’s Ogre and Mark Walk, will release its new album unDeveloped for Metropolis Records. Raw, diverse and unrelenting, unDeveloped, builds upon the sturdy foundation of the group’s past and looks toward an even more intriguing future.

The recording process for the new album shows ohGr moving full circle. Ogre describes that the recording for unDeveloped’s predecessor, 2008’s Devils in My Details as “purposely degraded” whereas unDeveloped was envisioned as “another starting point,” circling back to the buzz the band created with ohGr’s debut LP Welt and its 2003 follow-up SunnyPsyOp.

While this album may be a new dawn for the band, one thing remains the same. ohGr centers on Ogre and Mark’s more than 16-year musical partnership. The long-time collaborators appear in top form on unDeveloped. The duo picks up where it left off in 2008, furthering the ideas and characters that were introduced in Devils…

“The idea of a story, with developing characters that would spin off on their respective paths was something that hit a nerve and found a place during the recording of Devils… and wove its way into subsequent interactions with our listeners during the lead up to the release,” Ogre explains.

A darkly cinematic opus, Ogre says unDeveloped has a “soft theme of distorted sexuality.” This is readily apparent in the album’s opening track, “101,” which is heralded by an eerie, almost apocalyptic intro. On “101,” Ogre growls its twisted refrain, “Who do I have to f*ck?” over a mechanical, whirring and shrieking musical backdrop. He describes the striking chorus as “as much ‘give it to me’ as it is ‘take it from me.’”

Ogre says he sees “101” as one of unDeveloped’s standouts, calling it a “fantastic dance floor track.” With its hard, driving beat and anthemic energy, this is a difficult observation to argue. Another notable track on the album is “Crash,” a song written in reaction to the death of Michael Jackson and the United States’ health care debate. Ogre explains that the rise and fall of the late King of Pop is a sort of allegory of what lies in store for us “during this massive economic and social shift.”

“MJ ascended like a bacon-wrapped, sub-prime missile; up and up until his world was not even remotely livable,” Ogre elaborates. “The stunning parallels live alongside the current transference of wealth and lack of sustainability; of both of our natural world and the artificial constructs, both physical and mental, that we worship to follow as we ‘advance along’ and attempt to conquer that which has outlasted it all.”

unDeveloped album art click image for hi-res

Other songs on the album take a different tack. “traGek,” which was originally released on the ohGr website (www.ohgr.org) as a free download, explores some of Ogre’s more esoteric interests.
“When writing ‘traGek,’ I was obsessed, as I still am, with the electromagnetic spectrum,” he says. “Our vision occupies one small part of this fascinating way of perceiving the universe/multiverse – from the lowest of low wavelengths to the bright blue flash preceding the release of gamma rays. I am constantly wondering what I am really looking at and what I cannot perceive.”

Though it has its share of standout tracks, unDeveloped, as all great albums, should be considered as the sum of its parts. Ogre says the album is a sort of culmination of the long, difficult road he traveled while making Devils in My Details. Perhaps it’s his most personal album to date, but that’s up for the listener to decide.

“Each stone’s step on the journey has special meaning for me personally,” Ogre says.

“Now unDeveloped belongs to all those who will listen, interpret, embrace or denigrate.”

May 10, 2011 will be another step in that journey. ohGr’s fourth studio album, unDeveloped, realizes the promise of the band’s past and acts as a harrowing harbinger of what it has left in store.

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