In Those Days is a dark-fantasy jazz/blues concept album built on the book of Judges—half film score, half rock opera, all one continuous world.

Obligé scores a crownless Canaan with smoky horns, upright bass, haunted guitars, and stormy drums: temple nightclubs for Baal, crooked odd-meter stealth for the left-handed assassin, noir prophecy under the palm tree, iron chariots rolling like war machines, midnight tension in Jael’s tent, Gideon shaking in a winepress, a daughter caught in the teeth of a vow, and a man who looks ordinary but tears down gates and pillars by a strength that makes no sense.

Some tracks play like pure score, others like songs sung from inside the story, but the same themes keep resurfacing—motifs slipping between sax lines and vocals, big-band blasts giving way to quiet, wounded prayers. This is Judges as a jazz-shadowed myth: no king, too many gods, and a handful of fragile people trying to stand up in the ruin.

In Those Days

Shadow over the Valley

In Those Days is the whole film in audio form: score and songs woven into one dark fantasy journey through the book of Judges. Oblige imagines ancient Canaan as a crownless, mythic world where toppled idols, broken vows, and flawed “heroes” move through smoke, brass, and electric shadows.

The Score side carries the cinematic spine: overtures and motifs for a land with no king, sleazy temple grooves for Baal-berith, crooked odd-meter stealth for the left-handed assassin, noir prophecy cues under the palm tree, war engines for iron chariots, midnight jazz in Jael’s tent, Gideon’s winepress anxiety, Jephthah’s vow in the dark, Nazarite themes for a man who looks ordinary but carries impossible power, and the final collapse of pillars and pride.

The Songs side gives those same stories a voice: a rock-opera prologue of “every man doing what is right in his own eyes,” a temple nightclub hymn to Baal, a sly assassin confessional, a haunted Deborah/Barak duet as the stars fight from heaven, a trembling Gideon pulled out of hiding, a daughter caught in the teeth of her father’s promise, and the quiet heartbreak and seduction orbiting Samson.

Musically, it lives where big-band jazz, progressive rock, cabaret noir, and film score collide—horns, upright bass, guitars, piano/organ, drums, and strings all sharing motifs across both albums. Heard together, this “complete motion picture soundtrack” plays like a movie that hasn’t been filmed yet: one continuous arc from “In those days there was no king…” to the unresolved hush of No King in Israel.

Cue of the Wanderers

Baal-berith

Strange Fire

A Left-Handed Man

The Quiet Hand That Cuts

Under the Palm

The Tree of Verdicts

Chariots of Iron

Engines of War

Jael’s Tent

Midnight Canvas

A Steady Hand

Winepress Underground

The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon

If Thou Wilt Indeed Deliver

Vow in the Dark

The Song of Deborah

The Song of Barak

Volant Records is a story-driven label and shared universe: cinematic concept albums, stutter-house, western sagas, haunted pop, and hymn-like instrumentals. Home to Jupiter Morrow, Avaline Ingels, Shadow Face, Buck Ramble, Choralith and more. All Worlds Reserved®.