Abhordium – Omega Prayer (Sacrifice to Stomach Monster)
Something is up in Finland I‘m telling you right now. It’s like everyone was so sick of the mockery that is Finntroll that locals realized they needed to step it up, and instead of using gimmicks, they started to write actual music. Music you can never laugh at, music that breaks barriers, such as the recent one I reviewed from Vainaja, or music that just plain crushes it. This band we’re considering at the moment, Abhordium, is just such a band, they crush it do you hear me? I had never heard of them before, though, so I sampled some of their earlier work, and then moved on to this one and even let the kid give it a listen. It comes with her approval, so that’s good. She’s also 2. So now you’re wondering if I’m actually going to say this is terrible, since I made reference to a toddler, or if that means it’s awesome. Come on now, since she’s built from my genes, partially, obviously that means she knows what’s good jeez catch up now.
Speaking of catch up, you should be playing catch-up with the Finnish metal scene if you know what’s good for you. Yes, I know, Finntroll and the legions of geriatric Finnish hard core bands have made us want to forget the country even exists, musically, but now it’s time we forget about that and remember there’s a scene there. Accept the bad with the good I say, and Abhordium is good. Having been around for over a decade, though, you’d expect people would have heard more about them by now, but let’s just blame Finntroll again for the, let us say, Finnish metal crash. Omega Prayer made me happy, because it was the first hardcopy album I had received in awhile that I wanted to review, because it’s cover art, done by Babalon Graphics, is great. I always get bands thinking that I don’t want to review them, and complaining in Facebook Messenger for some reason, but they don’t seem to check the standards here in the submissions section, where I clearly say respect your music with respectable art. Now, musically, since I wasted so much time thus far, Omega Prayer is straightforward. For black metal, it’s not going to sound different from anything else in the genre, it’s just that Abhordium is damn good at what they’re doing. See what I said in the intro up there? It all makes sense now, but give it a listen. The symphonics, the shrieking, the solid playing with appropriate and not garbage production level, this is an easy black metal listen. You’re not going to find it expanding your definition, but it’s another case of “doesn’t need to.”
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Abhordium: Omega Prayer
Self-Released
4 / 5
