Omniavatar: Ego Death

Omniavatar is a Finnish progressive/symphonic metal band which I have not heard previously. Their debut United Earth was released in 2010 and their follow up Ego Death came out in December of 2016.

In the band are Harri Moilanen (guitar), Kimmo Pitkänen (bass guitar), Paulina Renholm (vocals) and Timo Komulainen (orchestrations, guitar, vocals).

Ego Death is a pretty solid progressive metal album with very good musicianship, especially the guitar work. From chugging riffs to shredding solos to more soaring motifs, if you like guitar dominated progressive metal this album will likely go a long way. Add to that lots of tempo changes and a nice mixture of heavy and light and you have quite a dynamic record. The vocals are good, sometimes bordering on beauty and the beast style although there are no growls here, just quite gruff and harsh at times.

The album's most adventurous moment is the lead off track "Alive, Asleep". Shades of heavy and soft with mostly shredding guitar in the first half before going for a more melodic soaring approach. "Lucid" is a gentler track laced with softer orchestrations before the heaviness continues with the dramatic "Rapport", reminding me a little of Symphony followed by the symphonic metal of "Cursed Ignorance". The title track continues the symphonic metal sound featuring dramatic vocals and speeding guitar riffs.

Although not a perfect album, the production could use some cleaning up, there is a lot to like here for fans of progressive metal. Recommended!

Track Listing:
1. Alive, Asleep
2. Lucid
3. Rapport
4. Cursed Ignorance
5. Ego Death
6. Abuse
7. Global Matters

Added: March 19th 2017
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Band's Bandcamp Page
Hits: 1726
Language: english

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