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In The Woods - Omnio
Reviewed by Eddie Risdal in 10/21/2009
I recall that I borrowed this album from someone and copied it onto a good old cassette not too long after the release in 1997. It was my first encounter with ...IN THE WOODS, and later I checked out their whole discography. Even if they weren't active releasing albums for more than a five years period from 1995 till 2000, they managed to put out four albums, and also the semi-official "Return To The Isle Of Men" containing demo stuff, and a double live album from their final gig, released "post mortem" in 2003.
From the start this Kristiansand combo was heavily into the black metal scene, together with their town mates Carpathian Forest. But already on their debut "HEart Of The Ages" (the capital E is supposed to be just like that) we hear a band that's blending a lot of "unheard" influences in black metal at that time. Also the vocals were often standard singing rather than BM screams. And two years later "Omnio" was released upon mankind and the transformation was tremendous.
You see it already on the cover art that this isn't a black metal band, and when you press play you might think for a moment that it could be Anathema around "Eternity" (1996) right until vocalist jan-ovl (and a bunch of other artist names, I'll stick with the one written in the booklet for this album) starts singing. He shure has his similarity to Vincent Cavanagh, but still he's a more daring vocalist, and manages to think "out of the box" very often, which results in a strong signature. Also female vocalist Synne does an exellent job here, and they share the vocal duties around 60/40 between them, sometimes solo, sometimes duets.
The album consists of only five songs (the last one divided into three tracks), but lasts for 63 minutes, so this is also a proof that ...IN THE WOODS were very little concerned about being mainstream, and "Omnio" starts with the wonderful "299.796 km/s", and during the first 15 minutes of the album we get a rollercoaster ride through exellent metal/rock with a progressive and avantgarde touch. Through the album they mostly use basic instrumentation, still they more than once give us some experimental sounds from in particular the guitars. There is also an occasional string quartet showing up here and there. On track two, "I Am Your Flesh", they get a bit speedier and aggressive, still there is plenty of variation, while "Kairos!" is a very untypical ...IN THE WOODS song, solely female vocals and only three and a half minute long. "Weeping Willow" is more back to the normal with a 11 minutes duration before we get the massive title track, which is divided into "Pre", "Bardo" and "Post", clocking in at 26 minutes. "Pre" and "Post" have much of the same musical theme, while "Bardo" is a more ambient break in between, with strange sounds appearing and disappearing.
The album was recorded in pretty well known Jailhouse Studio with Hans Eidskard behind the desk. The production isn't crystal clear, but fits the music very well. Everything is well balanced and we hear a band that have found their sound and identity. Now, 12 years after it's release, "Omnio" haven't aged even a tiny bit and still stands as one of the best (metal) releases from Norway ever for me, not bad at all in competition with all those world famous black metal bands!
Oh, and of course I got myself the CD version of the album several years ago.
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