ALBUM REVIEW: Origin – Omnium Gatherum

Longevity is an attribute that is seldom celebrated nowadays. Moreover, in the metal world it is often something that is overlooked entirely. The years pass by, and we completely ignore the fact that a band has been doing what they do best for years, or in OMNIUM GATHERUM’s instance, decades. The fact that the band have constantly churned out high quality melodic death metal for more than 25 years is no small feat, and now in 2021 they’re back with some fresh faces in their ranks (namely Mikko Kivistö on bass and clean vocals, and Atte Pesonen on drum duties) and look ready to add another stellar effort to their weighty back catalogue with Origin.

If you’d never listened to OG before then you should get a pretty good grasp of what they are all about from the intro track of the album entitled Emergence. The song is two and a half minutes of symphonic, almost cinematic metal that shows the band’s incredible penchant for combining heavy grooves and pop-soaked melodies within the same bar. It does the perfect job of setting out the mission statement for Origin: to blend the heaviest elements of melodic death metal with sickly sweet pop influences.

Throughout their career OMNIUM GATHERUM have embraced the Gothenburg style of melodeath, and here they use it to their full advantage on tracks like Prime and Paragon with the use of infectious grooves and keys that sound like they would fit into any of the classic IN FLAMES albums from their hallowed late 90s to early 00s era. The vocals from Jukka Pelkonen are delivered with as much passion and grit as they always have been, with some of the clearest enunciation in the business.

The production is inch perfect here, with the band relying on texturing their songs in order to achieve their signature colossal sound. Everything gets its chance to shine without being lost in the mix and sounds clean without ever coming across as too compressed or tampered with. The guitar tones selected by Markus Vanhala show just how experienced he is at tuning everything into the requirements of the song. The lead guitar lines carve their way through the mix and add yet another layer of melody to proceedings, ensuring that his licks get stuck in the listener’s head for some time once the song has ended.

It’s in the second half of the album where we find one of the undoubted highlights in Fortitude, a song that sees the band at their most musically solemn and somber. The synths and ethereal background vocals combine with the echoed guitars to create a sorrowful sound, while the slower, booming drum beat adds to the song’s power. This shows that when the band lean into their more progressive elements they are capable of writing truly unique songs that are deserving of being played in the biggest arenas around the world.

However, if there is a complaint to be made about the album it is the tendency to stick to the middle lane a little too often. Now, it is fair to say that the band have found what works from them as a whole and they are wise to stick to that as they do for a majority of the time, but when they have the capability to switch things up like they do on the aforementioned track Fortitude it can be a little disheartening that they decide to stick to the plodding mid-tempo approach that they have for a majority of Origin. Sometimes too much of a good thing can sour the taste a little, and a little more risk could go a long way, but overall this is a solid effort from a solid band that will certainly appease their loyal fanbase.

Rating: 7/10

Origin is set for release on November 5th via Century Media Records.

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