OMNIUM GATHERUM

Melodic death metal, a genre that is very, very near and dear to my heart, and a band that is very close to my heart not only musically but also from this genre as well. The Finnish band Omnium Gatherum has released their 10th album. It’s next to impossible for a band to sound the same after years, or even decades, since the first album, or even the previous release, Origins, in 2021, to this album. Still, Omnium Gatherum doesn’t play by anyone else’s rules, with releases or within the subgenre. Markus Vanhala, the founding and only original member of this band and one of the most musically accomplished Finns, continues to redefine the band’s sound time and again through his infectious riffs on guitar and his exceptional songwriting over the decades. He has even gone so far as to push and evolve the subgenre as a whole, making this band one of the leaders, if not the leader, of melodic death metal from the cold country of Finland. This is all done without Markus diluting the other bands, as he is very involved across multiple different subgenres. I’ve been fortunate in my Toronto concert-going never to miss a performance of this band to date. The band was introduced to me when they opened for Dark Tranquillity in 2014. ‘Luoto,’ an instrumental song from the album Beyond (released in 2013), is my alarm clock every morning, and I’ve seen them perform it live as well. I’m a massive fan of theirs, if you can’t already tell.

Omnium Gatherum has maintained a consistent musical formula and layout over the last couple of albums. We are met with an over-the-top intro song to set the tone for the album, ‘May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way,’ an instrumental and title track. The first few notes are filled with keys to tell you that something is coming, with an all-too-familiar screaming guitar slowly increasing in sound and running through the paces. As short and quick as this song starts and concludes, the keys finish, and we are brought into the next song. ‘My Pain,’ the second of two singles released to the public, brings a fevered guitar breakdown for the ages, almost like you just reached a boss in a video game, with incredible heart-pumping melodic notes. It’s one of the few songs in my experience with this band where they are entertaining, with insanely clean and crisp vocals from Markus in pockets throughout the song; these vocals are matched with brutal elements. This is a paint-by-numbers Omnium Gatherum song in the best way possible, which is why it’s one of the singles.

‘The Last Hero,’ the first single introduced to us with the album announcement, brings back the focus to the intro of keyboards, with a tamer version of guitars. The pace again picks up in its cadence, and the fury of the guitars, mixed with the rest of the instruments minus the vocals, will undoubtedly wake up a crowd in a venue. One question remains a constant throughout this song: “Do you want to be the last hero?” ‘The Darkest City,’ the longest song on the album, takes us on a journey, returning to the clean vocals yet again, with the keyboard synths and melodies mixed with the calm and melodic guitar work until the last bit of the song, where the triumphant and over-the-top guitar solo screams away, which makes this song great. The drum work on this track is the best on the record. As the song fades out and you think it’s over, we are greeted with a bass and drums combo in a jazz-style outro, which is highly unique and refreshing. ‘Walking Ghost Phase’: People with very tuned-in ears will be able to hear something extra special in the gang-style vocals screaming “WALKING GHOST PHASE!” Sweden’s hardest-working vocalist by output in lending vocals, Björn “Speed” Strid from Soilwork, can be heard through the mix of voices. There is a guitar solo towards the end of the song that epitomizes the guitar work that Omnium Gatherum consistently brings to every single album.

‘Ignite the Flame,’ with serious guitar picking and atmospheric tones to start the second half of the album—and I say this from a vinyl standpoint at least—that signature headbanging riff comes into full force with both the guitars and the strings. The drums really shine on this album as well, and amidst the tempo and chaos of this song, the drums do get some time to breathe by themselves for a short period of time. The solo towards the end of the song is one of the best on the album, and the same intro riff and keys round out the song, accompanied by more melodic guitars, to bring it to a close. ‘Streets Of Rage,’ ironically, this song title has nothing to do with the ’90s video game franchise, starts with what almost feels like an incoming warning or a countdown of sorts; in little to no time at all, the whole band comes alive. This song will surely become an anthem at any concerts; I can see the crowd just chanting “RAGE” during the chorus. ‘Barricades,’ unironically, given the last song title, this song comes off as a fight scene from a video game; the breakdown of guitars back and forth for the first few moments of the song works great. Afterwards, a wonderful melody of lifting atmospheric keys brings us right into Jukka’s voice. The song’s relentless pace is maintained for the majority of the vocals, with an unrelenting cadence.

‘Road Closed Ahead,’ I believe, is the longest instrumental from the band to this point in the career of Omnium Gatherum and to date the only instrumental outro. I’d like to know the musical direction for this album to be bookended by both an intro and an outro of instrumentals with songs in between. This is, however, a very epic way to end an album and hopefully not mean the end of the band. The song feels like a perfect tune to cruise to, or even a theme song for someone? Is the intro for the band in shows to support this album? The band is releasing this album, marking the longest time between full-length releases, just days after the four-year mark. I selfishly expected more from this album in two categories: more songs and more time on the album, from a minute-to-minute standpoint, as this album came in just under 40 minutes. This album goes very quickly when doing a playthrough. The album consists of nine songs, two of which feature instrumental intros and outros, leaving only seven songs with vocals. Don’t get me wrong, this album will undoubtedly be on people’s top ten lists for the year, especially diehard fans; it is a great album overall that will blend very well in the band’s catalogue. Every single song had the potential to be a standalone single—I’m sure that wasn’t an easy choice for the band at all, even though the singles chosen absolutely played strong as choices to support this album before release. The band as a whole is absolutely on fire across the entire album; I will be curious to see which songs will be included in this mix for the upcoming North American tour later this month.