Review Summary: Europe knows how to make Hardcore.
In the past, Europe has 'invaded' music. Beatlemania ravaged the world like never before. To this day, no other event in music has had such a profound impact on commercial recording. After that, Hard Rock and even early Heavy Metal had their start in Europe when bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple took the world by storm. In the 1980s, the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, famously abbreviated as NWOBHM was born with such acts as Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Def Leppard leaving their mark on heavy music. In 2011, a buzz is being made with the growing Hardcore scene with a few bands doing world tours and signing to big labels.
With two years experience and performing alongside acts such as Comeback Kid and Shai Hulud under their belts, No Omega are already big in their native Sweden but a hidden gem to the rest of the world. No Omega plays a very dark, metallic, chaotic brand of Hardcore. The band uses the play, pause, play dynamic that has become very popular in modern Hardcore. This is most evident in the song Ravens Fair where it is utilized often. Constants, the longest track off the album displays the powerful and desperate shrills of it's vocalist Andreas Malm the best displaying his best moment when he screams, “I hope this world breaks, I hope you ruin everything the way you ruined us” over what is definitely the most chaotic moment on this EP. The song then ends with Malm's powerful twenty second long scream with the rest of the instruments slowly fading out.
No Omega is not only just a relentless assault of chaotic Hardcore. Yes, D-beat drumming, blast beats, and chaotic riffing dominate this fifteen minute EP. However, the EP shows the bands capability to play outside of their comfort zone. The Design starts off as a slow melodic tune before transitioning successfully into a more emotive Hardcore Defeater like sound before flirting between chaotic and melodic Hardcore towards the end. One thing that can also be said is that the production of this EP is clean and nearly flawless.
Ett Hjarta Svart, is the weakest song on the release and is indicative of where the band can do some work. The song is not entirely bland as it is saved by the perfect production mentioned beforehand. The savior of this song is the bass playing which is audible and rich, being brought forward by the crisp production. Aside from that, the song is really hampered by a boring vocal and lyrical effort by Malm who obnoxiously shouts “No one is listening, I give up hope” repeatedly over the instrumentation that would have done a lot better with a fuller vocal performance.
Recently, the European Hardcore scene has been overshadowed by more popular bands in the Post-Hardcore and Metalcore world with bands such as Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, and Asking Alexandria making charts worldwide. However, with bands such as Your Demise, Rise and Fall, Gallows, More Than Life, and Oathbreaker it would be foolish to say European Hardcore isn't poised to make a huge splash sooner or later. When it does, No Omega will definitely be on the diving board when it happens.
