Review Summary: *inhales* CINEMATIC BLACK METAL
Andrei has just found his mother's corpse in a lush forest clearing. Being a man whose frontal lobe is somewhat less developed than our own and having never encountered civil society, he begins bellowing unintelligible things at the forest surrounding him as if it's somehow to blame for her death. Andrei's primitive brain may not be capable of solving modern Romania's myriad political and economical woes, but he's more than capable of registering surprise when the forest begins to respond to his senseless yelling in earnest. The gurgle of a nearby brook morphs into a complicated series of overlapping sloshes and trickles, building in volume until it seems as if an invisible creature's lips are somehow within breathing distance of
both of his ears, whispering, “
There are billions of stars in the universe, and your insignificant and insufferable excuse for an existence within this damp, dying forest has bestowed upon you a perspective so utterly minute in the grand scheme of creation that your death will mean precisely nothing to any living creature. Especially now that the one form of 'intelligent' life you've ever known is reduced to a decaying cadaver. Plus, you smell really fucking bad. Come submerge yourself in my depths, and if you never surface again I won't judge you.”
Wolves close in on the clearing, and they are ready to f
ucking riff.
TITLE CARDS
NEGURA BUNGET PRESENTS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH UNIVERSALLY UNDERFUNDED PICTURES
A PANOS COSMATOS JOINT
OM
F
uck yeah! Are you feeling that？ I've got goosebumps. Anyhow, that's how this album kicks off, and it's wild. What happens during the rest of
OM？I dunno, man, but there's f
ucking monks chanting somewhere and I'm pretty sure I just heard a herd of cows wander by with those little bells around their necks.
In essence,
OM sounds like a B-film of the highest caliber. The sound design and keyboard atmospherics were made on equipment that definitely doesn't sound expensive, yet lands in a realm of surreal terror only slightly undercut by melodrama. The keyboards are loud in the mix and often panned outside of the work of the rest of the band, making it feel like they're strangling the black metal excursions into submission. Somehow, instead of making the end product sound like what it is (self-produced forest metal; a form of musical alchemy that either creates or is created by white, skinny, sweaty, basement-dwelling, neckbeard-sporting weirdos), it manages to work in a way reminiscent of a Goblin soundtrack to a giallo film.
Should I mention that the band is actually good as well？The two credited guitarists for this album- who are apparently named Sol Faur and Hupogrammos for reasons that I'd love to hear their parents attempt to justify- actually seem to be having fun on their instruments, which I'm told is a rarity in the genre. Every song that contains guitar has some kind of fun rhythmic idea or entertaining technique employed for at least a passing section, providing a diverse performance which allows the riffier moments to really shine. I'm about 90% sure that the drummer is just having an epilectic fit sprawled across his kit during
De Piatrr, but I'm glad they got it on tape and I hope that he (Negru, of course) is doing okay now. The bass performance on
Cel Din Urmr Vis seems to suggest that [K]Ermit was actually allowed to be in the room as the band were writing songs, which may be a controversial decision to all of you bassists (meaning those that are discriminatory towards bass-players) out there. There are also some instruments on this album which might not even have names yet, I'm not sure, but it seems as if they're being played well？There's even a shift in scene on
Hora Soarelui where our hero meets some pharoahs or gauchos or some sh
it, and everyone stops for a quick dance. It's a little left-field, but I think that Andrei deserved some levity in his life after everything he went through.
In conclusion, smoke some mad doinks, pop yer cans on, and hit play on this bad boy. Even if you don't enjoy yourself, you'll be able to brag to your friends about how you do drugs on your own and listen to alternative music. People really love it when you incessantly rave on about that.
And now, for a review summary entirely in adjectives for all of the left-brainers out there: atmospheric, otherwordly, ethereal, dynamic, trashy-in-a-good-way, fun, grimdark, worldly, angry, tranquil, attractive, sporty, and mildly priced. Buy one today.
