OMNIUM GATHERUM - New World Shadows CD
Lifeforce Records
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Rating: 2/5
Here we have the fifth full length from this Finnish melodic death metal act and I have to admit that I never got into this band before. Obviously the "mello death" tag keeps me away from the lion's share of bands from this genre. It's not that I don't own any mello death band releases. I do but it's the smallest of stacks in my collection. Yes I store my CDs by genre because I'm a bigot and I'm also a sexist since I have a lot of ARCH ENEMY releases in the stack as well. Be that as it may I do know that OMNIUM GATHERUM has bounced around the label market be it Nuclear Blast or their last home on Candlelight. Now they've found a new place to reside with Lifeforce Records where I believe the shitworkers all walk around in metalcore band long sleeves. Think I'm kidding then look at their roster.
But anyway the nine plus minute opening cut, "Everfields", is very epic, progressive and not too far from what fellow countrymen AMORPHIS have transformed into, minus the poppy tunes. Then "Ego" wakes you up to reality and you're like oh yeah mello death. The guitar chugs along but never really bites you were there will be a mark left behind. Things are all very melodically and the synthesizers are as pleasant as sitting in front of an air conditioner. I'm sitting back in the chair listening to this thinking the last NIGHTWISH release was heavier then this one. Really the only thing aggressive about OMNIUM GATHERUM is vocalist Jukka Pelkonen who sounds like a polar bear with an Eskimo spear in his side. A beast in pain is always extreme sounding but sadly, as evident on the title track, it's wasted when the beast is fronting ASIA with a death metal guitarist.
OMNIUM GATHERUM's sound on here is almost skirting progressive or proggy doom territory with introspective cuts like "Soul Journeys" or the extremely long and epic closer "Deep Cold". Remember that air conditioner analogy? I believe if I ever succumb to hypothermia (I spent two years in Alaska so I know how not to) then the sounds of New World Shadows is what I expect to hear. What a boring way to die hearing some prog aesthetic act. I'd be praying for a family of starved polar bears to come along and tear me to shreds. But please don't let my neanderthal musical prejudices deny your opportunity to bath in fifty two minutes of progressively minded mello death. We'll come by afterwards and poke you with a stick just to revive your frozen mind.
Label: http://www.lifeforcerecords.com/
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