EP REVIEW: Slasher – Omnium Gatherum
OMNIUM GATHERUM are perhaps not a name that you’ll know, which is surprising seeing how extensive their back catalogue is and how much of that is finely crafted melodic death metal done to impressive standards.
The reason they aren’t up there with the other titans of melo-death is truly an enigma, but perhaps it’s just the fact that they’ve never had that breakthrough hit or unmistakable sound. Their last full-length album Origin, quite a surprising release at the time, was the band’s closest attempt to break into the mainstream. The move to include more synths and hooks allowed the band to fully embrace the cheese that can sometimes come served with melodic death metal.
How does the band take that sound and run with it? By covering an 80s pop classic! The MICHAEL SEMBELLO hit Maniac gets the death metal treatment and it’s done surprisingly well. While there may be a lack of punchiness that the original held, the cover thumps harder and slower. Like swapping a clawhammer for a sledgehammer. It’s done very well and becomes more likeable after repeated plays. The soaring chorus growled by Jukka Pelkonen will be a notable moment during live plays as the swells of festival bodies belt out ‘she’s a Maniac!’ while drunkenly acknowledging the person to their side who also harbours a now, not so secret, love of 80s cheese.
The title track is a brand-new original number for this EP and is OMNIUM GATHERUM‘s bread and butter. It’s a huge sweeping soundscape filled with low growls, inoffensive clean singing and ripping solos. The production as usual is polished and perfect, with the bass coming through nicely throughout, which is always welcome.
The final two tracks are songs left on the cutting room floor from the Origin sessions but still hold up to anything off the final product. Sacred is a galloping tour de force that is home to yet another catchy chorus that would have fit right into the album at the time. There’s the usual uplift in the chorus from the rapid verses and the classic key change moments but it’s certainly a song that could stand out and it’s great to see the band sharing this one with the fans as it would have been a shame to keep it in the shadows.
Lovelorn concludes the EP in a slightly slower fashion but it’s no less hard-hitting. In fact, the track stomps along with great power and the chorus is once again, colossal. The band have recently found their style to be more direct and they’ve once again nailed that down with this song. It has many layers, but it feels a lot more refined than other tracks in their back catalogue. The solo that shows up 3/4 of the way through and its accompanying synths adds an extra ray of sunshine to the gloom of the solemn verses giving the track an uplifting backdrop.
If you enjoyed Origin, you’ll enjoy Slasher as it’s more of the same but with a bonus of a cover of an 80s pop banger. OMNIUM GATHERUM hitting you with that melodic death DLC.
Rating: 8/10
Slasher is set for release on June 9th via Century Media Records.
Like OMNIUM GATHERUM on Facebook.