It seems that Finland's Omnium Gatherum have finally settled into a comfortable groove here on their fourth release The Redshift. After a very strong first two CD's, the band changed singers for their third, to mixed results, but Jukka Pelkonen and the rest of the band really seem to be gelling here, as The Redshift is easily one of their best and most cohesive albums to date. The style hasn't changed much, Omnium Gatherum still deliver solid progressive, melodic death metal, which owes quite a bit to bands like Dark Tranquility, In Flames, and Opeth, but there's a catchy nature to these tunes, a sense of confidence in the band that's readily apparent, and Pelkonen delivers a very strong performance, his mix of growls and clean passages working very well together. Tasty guitar solos, complex riffs, memorable melodies, and Pelkonen's monstrous growls & catchy clean vocals all come together on the excellent "A Shadowkey", while "Chameleon Skin" is raging, thrashy death metal at its best, with just enough keyboard textures and intricate arrangements to add the proggy touch. In fact, the band goes all-out progressive metal on the anthem "The Return", swirling synth tones and chugging riffs complementing Pelkonen's urgent delivery, while plenty of intricate yet melodic lead lines sweetening the pot. The gothic flavored ballad "Greeneyes" utilizes a lot of clean vocals and spacey keys, and the textured closer "Distant Light Highway" is a raging epic, littered with powerful guitar riffs and keyboards, as well as a varied vocal attack from Pelkonen, the band almost sounding like fellow Finn's Amorphis.
Mixed by the legendary Dan Swano, The Redshift is an excellent sounding melodic death metal release. Omnium Gatherum are poised to play with the big boys of the genre after this gem, so hopefully we see more of this in the years to come, as well as the band getting themselves over here to the US for some live shows.
Track Listing
1. Nail
2. A Shadowkey
3. Chameleon Skin
4. No Breaking Point
5. The Return
6. Shapes and Shades
7. The Redshifter
8. Greeneyes
9. The Second Flame
10. Song for December
11. Distant Light Highway
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