Review Summary: Good album, held back by the limited resources available during production.
Osha is a solo project, manned by Patrick West. This whole album was played, written and produced by Patrick West himself using the resources he had available at the time.
Connected is, to me an album about rising above and finding yourself, despite the bleak nature of the human experience. The themes of songs are about humanity, self growth, self discovery and our exploitation of the planet and its non-human inhabitants for our own personal gratification.
All the instruments are done by Patrick himself, however the drums and bass guitar are programmed and this holds the album back. The drums are done very well for what they are, imitating what a real drummer could do, but the low quality samples hold the album back, while at the same time giving it a strange charm...
The vocals and lyrics are the album's strongest point, most of the songs begin with the typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure but end up evolving into something completely different during the second half of the song. There are solid riffs that repeat themselves with the vocals driving the songs, there are not many catchy hooks as the songs tend to be a flow of consciousness. An exception to this would be Fiction.
The guitar playing is solid, but the tone can lack power at certain times - a good example of this would be the second part of the song "the call" where there is a heavy chugging riff, that sounds rather thin due to the production.
My reviews of the songs somewhat disregard the low quality production, however my overall rating of the album will take this into account. If you want to take into account the low production, take .5 off each song.
The Call - 4.5 / 5
This is the opener, and one of the best songs on the album. The first riff instantly sets the tone for the rest of the album, reminding you of a ship stranded at sea during a violent storm. You can hear the desperation in Patrick's vocals during the first few verses. The song then evolves into a playful yet heavy chugging riff, which is somewhat held back by the synthetic bass guitar and low production quality.
I Rise - 4 / 5
This song starts with a heroic sounding gojira-like tapping riff, and Patricks rather mellow vocals, but then proceeds to a rather demented sounding tremolo riff, which is one of the highlights of the album. The second half of the song proceeds to expand on the heroic tone of the initial riff, with a an emotional explosion right at the end.
Canvas of the Wicked - 2.5 / 5
It starts off with a mystical but dark tapping riff and vocals. It follows a very similar structure to “I RIse” . The thing that made this song only a 2.5 is mainly the fact that it drags on for way too long. The initial riff is quite interesting but is then followed by around 3-4 minutes of repeating the same riff and screaming over it. This would have been very effective had the song been around 3 minutes long, as the false chord growl that initiates that sequence is very powerful, and the flow of the vocals is very good. However, as stated before, the ending simply drags on for way too long making the initial impact wear off.
The Void - 4 / 5
If this album wasn’t titled “Connected” , it would be “The Void”. At 11 minutes long it is a behemoth of a song, consisting of 3 main sections. As soon as you hear the first riff, you know the song is not ***ing around. The dark riff separated by palm mutes paired with snares engrains that message pretty well. Followed by an explosion of guitar chords, the song comes back to the starting riff which is now paired with a very simple yet effective bassline. Soon after, a choir synth effect comes in and compliments the guitars perfectly. Somewhere around ⅓ into the song, the initial bunch of riffs fades out into another riff which reminds me of a demented purgatory. The vocals and drums come back at the perfect time. Patricks angry vocals are that of the devil whispering into humanity’s ears, telling them to do all sorts of evil things. The song then returns to an altered version of the initial “chorus”, which has now turned into a desperate call for help. The riff is then repeated for the remainder of the song, but the drums, synths and vocals are constantly changing to help progress the song further. At this point I would say the riff gets a little repetitive and the plastic nature of the drums starts to come out, however considering how good this song is, this can be overlooked. The drums and guitars suddenly stop, and a melancholic guitar riff with a radio effect fades in, which ties up the feeling of the song perfectly, blending into the next song.
Espiritu - 4.5 / 5
This is a continuation of the ending riff from the Void. I gotta say this - this is more of a transition track, but boy am I a sucker for well done transition tracks, and this is one of them. It is a very simple song, consisting of only two chords and does not contain any lyrics, except the desperately screamed “ESPIRITU” at the end. Some of the most pleasant sounding guitar work in the album comes in during the second half.
The song is the perfect breather to prepare you for the remainder of the album.
Fiction - 3 / 5
This is the most optimistic-sounding song of the album. If this album had a radio single, this would be it. I do not have much to say about this song - except that it should be much shorter. It features a catchy chorus and some memorable hooks, but there is not much more to it. Its a solid song overall, except the ending riff which sounds beautiful.
In The Shadow - 5 / 5
This is my favourite song of the album. The depressing yet hopeful riff that the song revolves around is simply beautiful, and some of Patricks best clean vocal work is in this song. The second half of the song evolves into an 90s metal riff that consists of a few power chords, which is a very effective end to the song. Followed by some cymbals and a dark, phasing lead guitar riff that brings the song to a conclusion. We’re ***ed.
For Blood And Gold - 4 / 5
This is the heaviest song of the album. Yet another behemoth of a song, at around 10 minutes in length. It has a structure very similar to Gojira’s “Art of Dying”. Around 1:30 into the song, a very dark riff comes in. This riff makes me think of a bunch of chained up slaves walking to their deaths. Very cool. Unfortunately the kick drum sounds like you are holding up a card to a fan and holds this sequence back a lot. Usually I am able to ignore the low quality drums but in sequences like this it is un-ignorable. This is also evident in the Chorus of the song, which is potentially the most beautiful part of the album. The plastic card sounding double bass inserts the “potentially” into my previous statement.
The riff that starts around halfway of the song is very catchy and inspires hope. The riff continues until near the end of the song, with the drums constantly alternating. This is the best drum sequence in this album, which imitates exactly how a highly skilled drummer may have played this song. After an eruption of guitars and drums that follow this, a super ominous sounding riff fades in. You would think you are walking down to the gallows. And as a fan of this type of music, this is something I like. (this is also the same "demented" sounding riff from "I Rise" but played slowly and without distortion)
Connected - 4 / 5
This is the only instrumental of the song, and was the last written song. You can tell how much Patrick’s guitar playing and riff-writing improved during the years he spent making this album. It ends with a very soothing keyboard synth and vocals, a good contrast to the aggressive and dark nature of this album.
Overall: 3.8 / 5
In conclusion, this album is definitely worth a listen if you are into heavy/alternate metal with spiritual and emotional lyrics. There is something in this album for everyone, whether it be the vocal harmonies of "In The Shadow" or the heavy riffing and powerful chorus in "For Blood and Gold". I suggest any fans of Gojira, Devin Townsend or even Three Days Grace give this a listen.
