Omnium Gatherum
Stuck Here On Snakes Way

Active for several years now, with even a release on the powerful Nuclear Blast ("Years in Waste," interesting but not yet mature in terms of production and therefore not as impactful as it could have been), Omnium Gatherum is a six-piece band from the truly prolific Finland. They are dedicated to a sort of melodic death metal particularly rich in anomalies for the genre: while never giving up the construction of tense riffs, they have the merit of finding truly fitting and very original melodies, dissonances clearly derived from prog metal, and of course great individual technique. This technique is exercised without necessarily pressing on the accelerator pedal or demonstrating it at every moment, thus avoiding making their music too compressed.

Yes, because in my opinion, their strength is in building songs that are easily assimilated by the listener without forgetting to include remarkable changes in riffs and melodic openings, including solos, which amaze by the simplicity with which they are performed without compromising the continuity and coherence of the song itself. Some have compared them, given the proposed genre, to Children of Bodom, but honestly, I don't see how the term could be accurate, as Alexi Laiho's prowess is more biting and fast, belonging to a more power metal-oriented world. I would say they only have in common with them the use of symphonic openings. That said, if I had to express a comparison to the reader approaching listening to this new "Stuck Here on Snakes Way," well, I could say to take the style of classic Scandinavian melodic death of the new millennium and mix it with a bit of the originality and unpredictability of the legendary Katatonia of "Viva Emptiness."

The title track "Stuck Here on Snakes Way" is the piece that opens the album and is nothing more than a brief introduction of acoustic guitar to the first real song "Into Sea," which kicks off with a bang, great main riff (which could easily belong to any Dream Theater song), truly growling and powerful vocals, a weak point in the previous album. Even better is the second "Dysnomia" where you can even hear echoes of Fear Factory and Napalm Death without deviating too far from the melodic path set by the dragging initial riff.

With "A Part of God" and "Undertaker" (obligatory mention for complexity and search for originality), the album flows well with songs that are never predictable and varied, while "Bastard-o" is really the strangest piece, pardon the term, of the whole work, where we can find hard rock sections tinged with blues alongside fierce beatblasts, topped with a truly relaxing and distinct central prog opening (!!!!!?????). Skipping over "The Third Flame," a piece in the norm (in the style of Amorphis a few years ago) plagued by an uninspired lyric, I would move on to talk about another strong track from the album, the depressed and romantic "Just Signs," where even the singing becomes melodic and confines the growl to the bridge only, while the harmonies with Katatonia emerge strongly.

"Truth" (complete with Hammond-style effect for the keyboards) brings back the tension, the volume, and above all the gain of the amplifiers, introducing, given its short length, "Drudgery," a medium-fast power song seasoned with substantial and engaging melodic openings that wink at more classic and '80s metal, also adding a delicate solo on an almost pop base. With the subsequent "In_sane World," the path returns fairly typically to melodic death, powerful riffs, dramatic slowdowns, and anything else that is part of the genre. The album is accordingly closed by the remarkable "Spiritual," where the hard rock/prog soul returns to manifest itself strongly mixed with the rhythmic and vocal charge of death in the long and emotional six minutes of the track.

In conclusion, what else is there to say about "Stuck Here on Snakes Way"? I consider it definitely an enjoyable album even and especially for those less accustomed to certain extreme sounds (except for getting used to a very hoarse singing) and I think that the artistic maturity has finally arrived for a group that has paid its dues and possesses quality, but which has also missed the big target with the previous two releases, failing to stand out in the sea of musical releases that the genre can boast of.