A dark fantasy rock opera stitched out of the book of Judges—told in smoke, brass, and electric ghosts. In Those Days: The Songs is the vocal twin to In Those Days: The Score: where the score is the film, this is the cast of voices stumbling through it.

Oblige drops you into a crownless Canaan where everyone does what is right in their own eyes: temple nightclubs for Baal, left-handed assassins, prophets under lone palm trees, iron chariots rolling like war machines, a woman with a tent peg and steady hands, a trembling leader in a winepress, a daughter caught in the teeth of a vow, and a man who looks ordinary but carries impossible strength.

Musically it’s dark-fantasy big-band jazz-rock:
slow, smoky grooves, odd-meter stealth, cabaret seduction, battle riffs, and progressive interludes that feel more like a concept record than a worship album. One main vocal at a time (with a few simple duets), telling the stories like haunted parables set to horns, guitars, and drums.

Spin this if you want the narrative, the lyrics, and the human side of the myth—then put on In Those Days: The Score when you want the same world without words.

In Those Days: The Songs

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.

In Those Days

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.

Baal-berith

A Left-Handed Man

Under the Palm

Chariots of Iron

The Song of Deborah

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®.