ALBUM REVIEW: The Burning Cold – Omnium Gatherum
Hailing from Eastern Finland, OMNIUM GATHERUM are one of the Baltic nation’s premier exports in melodic death metal. Alongside INSOMNIUM, for whom lead guitarist and creative driving force Markus Vanhala also plays, MORS PRINCIPIUM EST and, more recently WOLFHEART, OMNIUM GATHERUM have been leading the charge in carving Finland’s legacy as a lead nation in melodic death metal for their whole career. Mixing the typical aggression and huge melodies of melodeath with atmosphere building keyboards, the band have established an individual sound over their career. With seven well-received records under their belt, OMNIUM GATHERUM are back with their eighth full-length record; The Burning Cold.
The Burning Cold opens with the super melodic, doomy intro track, The Burning. There isn’t a huge amount going on here, but the massive, soaring melodies set the mood for the record well and lead in nicely to the one-two punch of lead singles, Gods Go First and Refining Fire. Juxtaposing the relative softness of the intro track, both tracks show that for all the keyboards and sing-a-long melodies, OMNIUM GATHERUM are still a death metal band at their roots. Driving into some fairly aggressive riff and drum work before the signature melodic leads kick in, both tracks have a huge atmosphere to them that will work perfectly live.
The titanic melodies and the proggy use of keyboards that OMNIUM GATHERUM employ have been a consistent characteristic of their sound for the entirety of their career. And when executed well, they had a new dimension to the sound, separating the band from both their peers and the legions of cookie-cutter AT THE GATES clones. However, at the times the excessive focus on melody and keyboards taking centre stage make several tracks a bit twee. Rest In Your Heart is the biggest offender, coming over as somewhat quaint, and out of place in the otherwise pretty aggressive record.
That isn’t to say the keyboards and excessive melody don’t work. Far from it. With The Fearless Entity and Be The Sky the juxtaposition of atmospheric keyboards and huge melodies with the ferocious riffs and vocals highlight the fact that this is a melodic death metal record in the truest sense of the term. Further, The Frontline has a doomy, melancholic feel characteristic of Finnish melodeath that would have felt empty without the haunting melodies. Other than the slip with Rest In Your Heart, OMNIUM GATHERUM handle the melodic nature of their sound extremely well throughout The Burning Cold.
Arguably the most death metal leaning tracks on The Burning Cold are the crushing Over The Battlefield and Driven By Conflict. The former opens with a short keyboard intro before driving into the up-tempo classically melodeath riffing and an undeniably heavy but exceptionally hooky chorus. The latter is a strong contender of the record’s strongest track, holding nothing back in its ferocious delivery. Again, the chorus is as catchy as they come despite the heaviness and the track is devastating from start to finish, and a perfect number to summon some circle pit action.
Continuing from the distinctively Finnish melancholy of The Frontline, album closer Cold is a sorrow drenched offering that ends The Burning Cold in a delightfully gloomy fashion. Though, perhaps the track would have been better placed earlier in the album as the doomy nature of it makes it a somewhat anticlimactic end, the song perfectly embodies the heaviness, melancholy, atmosphere and melody that makes the Finnish melodic death metal scene such an exciting one.
OMNIUM GATHERUM are a band that thrive in a live setting, and that was clearly the focus with The Burning Cold. From start to finish, the record is crammed with absolute bangers, and, with the exception of the slightly ballad-ish Rest In Your Heart and the doom-ridden melancholy of The Frontline and Cold, any track from The Burning Cold could comfortably slot into OMNIUM GATHERUM‘s setlist. Filled to the brim with classic melodeath heaviness and arena-sized hooks, coupled with the excellent production makes The Burning Cold a delight to listen to. All in, this is a brilliant addition to OMNIUM GATHERUM‘s discography that showcases the experience and maturity of the band as a unit, and particularly Vanhala as a songwriter.
Rating: 8/10
The Burning Cold is out now via Century Media Records.
Like OMNIUM GATHERUM on Facebook.