I’m sure many of you, like me, follow labels, because they have a sense of what bands are good and US black metallers Ominous Resurrection have been picked by the Norwegian label for this second album. The trio comprising this unholy barbaric act are not for those wanting their black metal to be of the polished variety, the band prefer to inflict the most heinous sonic wrath possible.

Their album begins with a lengthy intro title track spanning nearly four minutes with its disturbing background noises amidst repeating a bell toll that seems to get louder with passing minute but it probably doesn’t but just seems to, as it torments the listener ready for ‘Heir To the Throne’ to crash in. The raw piercing guitar sound completely submerges you in a monophonic terrorizing dungeon of sound. Once your ears attenuate to the sound the riffing base isn’t quite noise based but is close as the guitar’s shrilling sound is accompanied by a backdrop of cymbal smashing that equates to glasses smashes all around you and I mean that all in a good sense. Everything is controlled as the song is backed by atmospheric ghoulishness as whilst the song is savage it is not fast preferring to emphasise with the cymbal work and purposeful drum work and subtle bass.

Speeding up markedly is ‘Ashes Of Holocaust’ where a nihilistic assault creates an almost blur like Wiegedood stance until the tempo is reined that allows the bass to become focused. There is an inhumanity to this album as the song drops into a calmness that is eerie where a macabre vocal floats in alongside the drums and cymbal work. As that sequence abruptly ends the track becomes an absolute wall of battering mayhem tempered only by the cymbal subtleties.

‘Sons Of The Pleiades’ has a Gothic texture on its opening sequence with a keyboard like backing initially before a fine riff change and accompanying tempo switch. The track is rife with riff changes that appear out of nowhere making the song that bit different to the others in some respects before returning to rancorous malicious spite on ‘Decalogue’. The cacophonic malignancy is merciless as the vocals possess a grotesque malevolence that cloys at the listener like a malformed beast.

Closing this twisted sonic deformity is ‘Genetic Providence’ a nine minute chaotic exploration that inflicts grievous harm, the speedy start is brief before the song adjusts to a slower but still manic style. The schizoid riffing is battered with vocal distortions that are rife with bloodcurdling dementedness spliced together with sporadic speed incursions. Again the use of cymbal emphasis is constant maniacally driven as the song seems veer off tangentially without any notice almost like the song is being improvised.

This album is not for the faint of heart, it isn’t something you can put on in the background; it is music that you absorb into every fibre of your being, corrupts your senses, infects your soul, poisons your brain, defiles your surroundings and blights your very essence.

(8.5/10 Martin Harris)

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https://ominousresurrection.bandcamp.com