Release
date: 10th February 2018. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD
Maladies
– Tracklisting
The Deception
Tsunami
Black Riders
Here Comes The Cloud
Still Missing
Top Dog
Bloody Sails
Outer Space
Members
Tim Byrne - Drums
Jared Smith -
Guitars/Vocals
Matt Dawkins - Lead
Vocals/Bass
Review
So
we have OLMEG's new album and third overall. Maladies is a more
vibrant and cosmic spaced out doom offering compared to their
previous albums. The grunge aspect of their music remains very much
the same. The vocals from lead singer Matt are very rough and ready
throughout the album. Though they're performed superbly well on the
entire album. The band does suffer from a musical identity crisis at
times.
As
the band can't fully decide if they want to be a Spaced Out Doom band
or a more Grunge Sounding Psychedelic Stoner Rock band. It's only a
minor complaint as OLMEG still offer perhaps their best album to
date. With songs such as The Deception, Tsunami, Black Riders and the
blistering ten minute plus epic - Here Come The Cloud - allowing the
band to perform top-notch heavy doomy spaced out riffs. The album
does have a distinctive nineties Grunge/Stoner Metal sound that is
the main driving force of the album.
I
do admire the band's choice of going with an alternative rock/metal
feel on parts of the album. This means OLMEG are not relying on tired
genre clichés and are quite inventive with both their musical
delivery and lyrical output. The second half of the album features a
few more epic songs ranging from seven minutes to ten minutes in
length with Still Missing and Outer Space being perhaps the best two
tracks on the album.
What
I enjoyed most about this album is how progressive OLMEG have become
since their last album. As the band experiment with progressive rock
sounds on the album. Add layers of heavy doom based FUZZ and that’s
when OLMEG start to create a more exciting sound and name for
themselves. The song Still Missing is a prime example of this. Taking
influence from early-era Truckfighters but when OLMEG switch to a
heavier prog rock sound the atmosphere of the whole mood and feel of
the album becomes simply unstoppable.
If
you enjoyed the heavy fuzzy cosmic doom sounds from GEEZER's awesome
album from 2016 then OLMEG offers a similar experience. The
production is superbly handled with the band sounding incredibly
fresh. The album feels that it was recorded at a Live Gig or recorded
in one take. Apart from a few minor flaws, Maladies is a hugely
entertaining wild ride of Psychedelic Doom/Cosmic/Stoner Rock that
may even raise OLMEG's profile even further within their respective
scene.
This
is an album that won’t instantly grab you from the very first
listen but give it a few more listens and you'll be singing from the
same song-sheet as OLMEG.
Words
by Steve Howe
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