(There’s a new Omnium Gatherum album out this Friday, and Andy Synn has the low-down on what you need to know about it)

After you’ve written for any site/blog/zine for any decent amount of time you’ll find that certain habits, certain patterns of writing, set in.

Case in point, it turns out that I have written, in one way or another, about every single Omnium Gatherum album released over the course of the last decade, which should tell you two things:

One, I am getting old, and two, I am definitely a fan.

That being said, I’m not a fanboy, by any means, and have never hesitated to call out what I think (and hope) are valid criticisms, which is why the rather mediocre Grey Heavens ended up on my “Disappointing” list for that year, and why I didn’t hesitate to point out that, for all its good points, The Burning Cold was a little too long and uneven for its own good, and lacked the steely-eyed focus of the band’s very best work.

Of course, another thing you should know by now is that when I say something is good, really good, I mean it. And not only is Origin really good, it’s also easily the band’s best work since Beyond.

Continue reading »

(We present Andy Synn’s review of the new album by Finland’s Omnium Gatherum, which will be released by Century Media on August 31st.)

Before I kick this review into high-gear, I want to clear something up once and for all… despite sharing some superficial similarities (and, these days, a guitarist), Omnium Gatherum and Insomnium really don’t sound all that much alike, and it would take a truly committed contrarian to suggest otherwise at this point.

Truth be told, regardless of whether you think they ever even sounded all that much alike in the first place, the differences between the two bands have only become more pronounced over the years, as while the latter have spent their time pursuing a moodier, more melancholy sound, the shameless synths ‘n’ solos approach favoured by the OG crew has taken them in a markedly different direction, to the point where their highly anticipated eighth album finds the Finnish sextet now occupying the same sort of highly energetic, audaciously anthemic, niche once inhabited by In Flames in their prime. Continue reading »

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Finland’s Omnium Gatherum.)

As you know, we’re not really in the business of publishing negative reviews here at NCS. In fact I think the very idea of publishing something wholly negative gives Islander heart palpitations.

Still, I have to say that Grey Heavens, the seventh album by Finnish melodeath titans Omnium Gatherum, is, without a doubt, a thoroughly frustrating listening experience.

There are times when it positively crackles with the band’s patented musical magic, driven by the same passion and energy that made The Redshift, New World Shadows, and Beyond such thrilling, electrifying albums, ably accented by characteristic tinges of proggy melancholy and shamelessly extravagant fretboard theatrics.

Unfortunately, there are also times (more than I’m really comfortable with, truth be told) where it limps rather than gallops along, with a much more uneven gait, hamstrung and prevented from reaching its full potential by a nagging feeling of over-familiarity and a sense of “been there, done that” which lingers like a vaguely unpleasant odour.

Like I said… it’s frustrating, fluctuating as it does between utterly stupendous, and unsatisfyingly stock in its delivery. But that doesn’t make it a bad album. Just an uneven one. Continue reading »