REVIEW IN BRIEF: OMNIUM GATHERUM, STUCK HERE ON SNAKES WAY
Finland’s Omnium Gatherum are that rarest of things: a European melodic death metal band I just can’t get into, no matter how hard I try. All of the elements that have made Gothenburg bands and their ilk so successful in the past are here (death metal growls, poppy choruses, the occasional breakdown, guitars that sound like keyboards and keyboards that sound like guitars), so maybe I’m just burnt out on the genre.
But somehow, I don’t think so. The truth is, there’s some strong material here, but only the first single, “Into Sea,” ever even comes close to be as transcendental as the best work of In Flames or the band’s fellow countrymen in Insomnium. Omnium Gatherum seem to have the tools but not the talent to make truly stupendous melodic death metal; at the end of the day, this album’s failures lie entirely with the songwriting.
(three out of five horns)
-AR
Buy Stuck Here on Snakes Way
