Tuesday 12 April 2016

OMMADON - S/T (Album Review)


Release date: April 8th 2016. Label: Burning World Records / Dry CoughRecords / Medusa Crush Recordings. Released. Format: DD/Vinyl

OMMADON – S/T– Tracklisting

1.OMMADON 41:39

Band Members:

David Tobin (guitar)
Ewan Mackenzie (drums, keyboards)

Review:

An ominous wailing of dense feedback announces the arrival of the latest release from lords of bleakness Ommadon and this new album in keeping with the rest of their back catalogue is short on the number of songs but long on their length. This self titled behemoth is only one song but is over forty minutes long and has many musical twists and turns along the way.

That wail of feedback creates a long intro that you keep waiting and waiting to explode before, finally, a tribal-esque drum kicks in and pounds tensely, adding to an already anxious atmosphere by pushing the listener further and further to the edge of some sort of dark aural abyss where they will get restless, apprehensive and even upset and what is happening to their ears. This is lesson in aural perseverance in the heaviest way imaginable.

In fact, to say that Ommadon's music is not only heavy but in fact crushingly heavy would be a severe understatement and there is no trace of melody here at all and this combined with the massive apocalyptic riffs that are as punishing as it gets and resonate frequently throughout. While other heavy bands can talk the talk when they say that their music is heavy but not follow it up, Ommadon really do walk the walk and only need to let their music do its far from insignificant talking, there is a sense of negativity and sheer nothingness that just can't be faked contained on this album and it sounds all the better for it.

This is primal music at its base level, the mogadon pace of the music makes it all the more menacing and the whole feeling of the record is one of utter darkness. This is not music for the faint hearted, this is music for people who want or in fact need to be pushed over the edges of sanity and sounds like the entire world collapsing in on itself and as the album ends as it began with that evil sounding feedback, a sense of relief may come over you but your ears may never be the same again.

Turn on, tune in and let the harshness of Ommadon consume you, this is the sound of musical evil incarnate and for those that can handle it, enjoy the ride.

Words by Gavin Brown