Ogre - the official website

I saw the ever-righteous Ogre ply their space-Hobbit thunderboogie onstage at Boston's annual white trash apocalypse The Redneck Fest in 2000. [T]hey came on like Spinal Tap, BTO, Uriah Heep, and, I dunno, some kinda stonerfuzz trip, all at once. It was a memorable performance, of that I will attest.

"Dawn of Proto-Man" is . . . about KISS, giant aliens from the future, ill-fated bomber pilots, and the plague. Not all at once, but at least in rapid succession. And all the while, these strange words float in a sticky syrup of jazzy noodling, ancient Sabbath riffs, and the occasional moment or two of arena rock bombast. As such, it couldn't be more perfect, unless they took to wearing purple velvet waistcoats onstage, or something. If you thought fog machine metal was dead, then baby, Ogre are here to wake you the fuck up. Your own private Stonehenge awaits.

Wow!! Dawn of the Proto-Man is a really serious throw-back to the heaviest sounds of the early '70s. I'm talking Pentagram meets Black Sabbath meets Budgie with Bon Scott on vocals!! Add in a plethora modern styles ranging from Abdullah to Mudhoney to YOB and you have Ogre! No bullshit!!! The production on this is also beautifully crystal clear and classic. Pentagram's "First Daze Here" is really the only current release comparison I can make. Dawn of the Proto-Man is literally the most "classic" sounding new release I've heard in a very long time!! Very highly recommended!!

I listened to this record once & when the guitar solo kicked in, in the opener "Ogre," I nearly wept. I had not had this reaction to a guitar solo since first hearing Poobah's "Jump Through The Golden Ring." The warm & deep bluesy heavy rock. . .is peeling paint off my walls with a sound that is so comfortingly sick & nasty that it was deemed worthy of my tears. On it's heels comes "Colossus," a 7 minute monolith that you can go back to Sabbath's "Hand Of Doom" to find a peer. I knew I was onto something as special as it gets with the 10 minute "The Jaded Beast." Sub-divided into 2 sections (God, I love that kinda thing!), it opens with the crushing "Out Of The East," laying waste to anything that's NOT on, say, Side One of Budgie's "Squawk." It then shifts into the coda, "Invasion," from which I'm just now finished reeling uncontrollably. Calling to mind such things as Truth & Janey, Totty or Clear Blue Sky, it is a study in the fact that the word "heavy" has nothing to do with de-tuned Morse-Code guitar & everything to do with things like feel & soul, names like Green & Bolin... [O]ne of the most flattening, volatile & truly surprising records I've heard in a very long time.

This disc has got it all. I have listened to it over and over again, and it keeps sounding new. We have got major SABBATH, BUDGIE, SAXON, AC/DC, MAIDEN, TROUBLE, and NEBULA influences at work here.....This is a complete package of music that no collection worth a shit can be without. Well boys and girls, BUY THIS RECORD!!

New England's Ogre is vintage. Vintage Pentagram, Cirith Ungol, AC/DC, Uriah Heep and Grand Funk stuffed in a pepper grinder and sprinkled ever so lovingly over stacks of Marshall brand amplification.

When this band gets cookin', there's nothing like it. The break on "Colossus" when vocalist/bassist Ed heats up the bass is beyond reproach, as is the very Heep/Ungol-ish multitextured moods of the multi-movement "The Jaded Beast" composition. "Suicide Ride" is, in a two words, fucking phenomenal, recalling Cathedral's "Midnight Mountain" in infectious riff/groove/and all out rock power. Doom epic "Black Death" is smothered in old school Pagan Altar-loving and vintage Sabbath kisses. Like a valentine on Halloween.

Ogre delivers a total heavy 70's overload, and recall the heyday of hard rock. I haven't heard such a genuine sounding band like Ogre for a long time. "Dawn of The Proto-man" is rocking in all the best ways.

"And for the end, comes from the United States, OGRE. Their songs can be seen as mix between Solarized and Red Giant, heavy and groovy. Their songs, "Ogre" and "Skeletonized" shows us a band with lots of capacities to write good rock songs."

"OGRE sounds like DC's legendary doom gods Pentagram tunneling through the Mahogany Rush catalog with lyrics ripped from the diaries of a burntout high school history teacher who's been planning a killing spree. Like comic shop dungeon-masters mixing it up with the cool kids, OGRE rock out in a very Goddamn obtuse way."

- Review of OGRE performance at the Redneck Fest 4 (Boston) from The Noise December 2000

"OGRE was on stage when I entered and never have I seen a band that matched their name with such precision. A flurry of menacing chords with a lumbering gait as if emerging from a deep dark cave with a taste for blood. This trio from Portland, ME crudely adorned their hulking garage rock with occasional shrieking metal guitar solos that possessed the unrefined power of crude oil."

-Review of same performance published in the December 2000 issue of Northeast Performer

OGRE: 2000 Demo CS Pick out your afros and throw on your flares, as Maine's OGRE is ready to rock you back to the 70's. Now there's an El Camino-load full of KYUSS-clones out there who claim a 70's influence, but since KYUSS is more like what happens when Punk Rockers take acid and learn to play their instruments, I fail to see how sounding like KYUSS constitutes a 70's influence. But I digress-and OGRE don't. The first track on their new demo "Age Of Ice," wastes no time in creating an infectious, straight-rockinâ atmosphere, a la KISS in their heyday. They really capture the 70's "schtick," like the best MONSTER MAGNET. You can just picture them under the hot lights, shirts off, sweat flying, putting forth a wall of heaviness. OGRE is a band that sounds instantly familiar, which is a great compliment. Their sound is just BIG, for lack of a better word, despite the fact that this was recorded on a 4-track. But they can do more than just rock out, as other tracks prove."The River" builds from a mellower beginning into a wild array of drugged jams and freakouts. My favorite material is definitely at the front of this demo, but there are no duds at all, as all songs are well-written and inventive. I love the vocals, which are strong and melodic and slightly strained to give them the air of authenticity. And the guitar solos are just out of control. These ogres of Rock (and I mean Rock, not Stoner Rock) will not stay unsigned for long. And here I am, still singing "It's the Age of Ice" in my head. -- CH

"Power Trios have a certain cache these days, it seems: fewer people in the argument, less equipment to haul around, less complex songs to write. The last seems not to hold true for OGRE, though. These six numbers do bludgeon from time to time, but they're a little more interesting than your average three-chord mosher. "For one thing, the lyrics make sense, even if they aren't cheery. (Hear "The River") You know that, because bassist Ed Cunningham's voice is up front, and he doesn't gargle the razor blade. For another, these guys really know how to jam. Listen on the same song, as Cunningham and drummer Will Broadbent lock into a piss beat groove and guitarist Ross Markonish finds an impossible guitar tone and shreds it. "In fact, Markonish keeps coming up with interesting sounds throughout. On "Digital Graffiti" he sounds for all the world like Cream-era Clapton. On "The Gas" (an obvious tip of the hat to Black Sabbath, right down to Cunningham's vocal) his guitar just buzzes. Yeah, the songs are a little long, but Ogre isn't afraid to turn on a dime in the middle of a tune. Not only do they have a grasp on pacing, but they write pretty well, too. Stay tuned...."