Review of Omnium Gatherum - Stuck On Snakes Way

I can’t claim any real prior experience with Omnium Gatherum—I heard a few tracks off of 2003’s acclaimed Spirits and August Light and thought them to be reasonably entertaining, but more or less lost track of them afterwards. However, my understanding of the band’s career arc thus far goes like this: the band’s first EP and the aforementioned Spirits and August Light were widely hailed as successes and for a while, Omnium Gatherum were tagged with the massively over-applied “band who will revitalize melodic death metal” status (see: Arsis, Mors Principium Est, etc.). Unfortunately, the band’s followup, Years In Waste, had ‘sophomore slump’ written all over it and was a far less exciting listen than its predecessors. A lot is riding on Stuck On Snakes Way for Omnium Gatherum, who are left with the task of winning back the metal community’s interest with their third disc. Sadly, it doesn’t look like they have much hope; this disc is professional-sounding and detailed but as vanilla as they come.

Metal is crowded with musicians who are long on technical ability but short on inspiration, and Stuck On Snakes Way is a perfect example of why mere musicianship does not a good metal album make. Where Spirits and August Light at least conveyed a sense of vitality and power, today’s Omnium Gatherum sound calculated and dispassionate while churning out their blend of Gothenburg melodeath and modern Scandinavian thrash. The parts are all there, sure; stuttering lockstep thrash rhythms, Dark Tranquillity synths, grandiose choruses, brooding clean breaks and flowing wah-fueled soloing all show up in spades, but none of it seems to matter all that much to either the band or the listener. Omnium Gatherum’s instrumental component is certainly talented—the vocals are still the weak link, with newcomer Jukka Pelkonen (ex-Elenium) proving just as underpowered as his predecessor—but great playing doesn’t compensate for bland music. The simple fact of the matter is this: in a genre as crowded and homogenous as melodic death metal, you damn well better be able to shit out hooks at will, and Omnium Gatherum just ain’t doing it here.

Now I don’t know if these guys are just trying to play a style that they have no particular gift for anymore or if they’ve simply lost their creative impetus as musicians, but Stuck On Snakes Way is a disappointingly flat release from a band with both a buzz behind them and so much obvious musical skill. Looks like Omnium Gatherum won’t be revitalizing anything anytime soon; this one’s for melodeath junkies and OG diehards only.

Release Details

Omnium Gatherum

Stuck On Snakes Way

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