Review: Omnerod – The Amensal Rise

Style: Progressive Metal, Progressive Death Metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: old Leprous, heavy Devin Townsend, Between the Buried and Me
Review by: Christopher
Country: Belgium
Release date: 12 May, 2023

I’d already called dibs on The Amensal Rise for review when, on April 14th, it was revealed to me in a flash of revelation that we’d received a promo for one of my most anticipated albums of the year. After the evolution they displayed on their Construction EP, my expectations had grown for Omnerod who, since their sophomore Arteries, I’d always felt held enormous potential to create something truly electrifying. Also, they put out the best album update I’ve ever seen.

From the thunderous dissonant chords opening “Sunday Heat” that make Opeth’s “Heir Apparent” sound cuddly by contrast, I knew Omnerod’s third full-length The Amensal Rise was going to be something special. Omnerod’s overall style is akin to the mania of Devin Townsend at his heaviest (indeed, they’ve covered Strapping Young Lad before) filtered through the jagged compositional style of Coal-era Leprous with some of Between the Buried and Me’s schizoid structure for good measure. Indeed, The Amensal Rise’s album art sums it up well: the eerie serenity of a hot-air balloon ride in thick fog, only for some eldritch arachnidian claw of dissonant metal to snatch you up and pull your vessel into the murk, never to be seen again.

Romain Jeuniaux’s vocals are completely unhinged, his belting shrieks matched only by his soaring cleans—when he lets loose there’s some Einar Solberg and Devin Townsend in his delivery but Jeuniaux’s style is his own—while Anthony Deneyer provides the more Akerfeldtian guttural harshes. It’s one of the strongest vocal pairings in the progressive underground, and the fact that the two of them pull off these oratory feats whilst playing such frenetic riffs is staggering. 

And those riffs are insane, there’s a structure to them, an underlying logic, but there’s an abidingly bizarro sense of chaos driving them as well; any time you think you’ve figured them out, something changes and you become lost in the frenzy once more, “The Commensal Fall” being the culmination of this manic composition style, skirting into Imperial Triumphant levels of sheer disorder. Bassist André Six slides menacingly beneath the riffs whilst Pablo Schwilden Diaz’s drumming comprises a sustained assault on the kit which may yet prove a criminal offence. The sustained tension continues even through melodic sections: take the calm harmonica section on the monstrous “Spore”—a manic track that could sit happily on Devin Townsend’s Deconstruction—which recalls Ennio Morricone’s eerie score for Once Upon A Time in the West or the creepy mournful whispers on “Magnets” when it shifts into a softer gear. To return to the cosmic horror analogy, Omnerod’s music sounds like it was made not about but by indifferent, incomprehensible godhead terrors.

My most common critique is levelled against albums that outstay their welcome and, at seventy minutes, The Amensal Rise is a prime contender for such criticism. However, Omnerod’s music is so varied and changeable, and yet possessed of such an effortless sense of flow that the time flies by—in this regard they’re rather like Between the Buried and Me. You’re fully immersed in these madcap soundscapes, subject to the deranged whims of some of underground prog’s most talented musicians. Even the transitions between tracks are sublime, whether it’s the withering synth on “Magnets” into the eerie trip-hop intro to “The Amensal Rise”, or the chilly organ that plays out “Satellites” running seamlessly into the eerie opening reverb-laden chords of “Spore”; all of which help The Amensal Rise feel like a single, epic, deranged symphony. 

The only small quibble I can level at The Amensal Rise is that I think Jeuniaux is occasionally a little low in the mix, particularly on “Sunday Heat”. I think this effort to be sonically overwhelming is mostly by design given that Omnerod are a howling maelstrom of a band, but I do want that eerie softness that Jeuniaux possesses to be a little better cared for. However, I want to stress that this is only a minor and very occasional issue; for the most part Jeuniaux is allowed to be the screeching force of awe that he is.

You’re standing on the precipice of a cliff edge beneath which lies the abyssal maw of a sonic elder god: dive in and let The Amensal Rise consume you. Let those nightmarish atmospheres envelop you, let the leviathan vocals sear your flesh, let the ever shifting riffs transform your very DNA. I always knew Omnerod had something special, I knew they had the potential to go all out and create something truly incredible. 

And they did it.

Recommended tracks: Magnets, Towards the Core, Spore
You may also like: Rototypical, The World is Quiet Here, Dissona
Final verdict: 9/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page

Label: Independent

Omnerod is:
– Romain Jeuniaux (vocals, guitars)
– Anthony Deneyer (vocals, guitars)
– André Six (bass)
– Pablo Schwilden Diaz (drums, percussion, keyboards)