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Release Date: September 05th 2025. Record Label: Blues Funeral Recordings. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Om Moksha Ritam - Tracklisting
1. Meditation
2. Mountain
3. Snow and Ice
4. Forest
5. Sea
6. Desert
7. Awakening
Members
Alex Avedissian - Guitar
Van Bassman - Vocals
Juan Garcia - Bass
Mike Morris - Guitar, Vocals
Amos Rifkin - Percussion, Vocals
Review
Om Moksha Ritam is the debut album from Post-Doom/Psych/Ambient/Stoner Metal Collective INSOMNIAC who are made up of members of Zoroaster, Deceased and Avedissian Pickups. The record lies heavily into the actual band name with INSOMNIAC or lack of sleeping being the main creative theme for the album or from the actual words of the band themselves:
“You’ve got it all wrong. The Insomniac isn’t unable to sleep, the Insomniac chooses to evade sleep. We all fall down at some point, but between the waking world and our dreams exists the surreal."
This record is a journey into the meditative or transcendental side of Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal with flashes of Americana, Shoegaze, Sludge and Prog Rock with INSOMNIAC blazing a creative path of their own making.
Take the opening song of Meditation where the band feel like their channelling the likes of LOU REED, KING BUFFALO, PELICAN, KYUSS and YAWNING MAN with a backdrop of scorched Desert Rock sounds that has gone through a NUCLEAR DESTRUCTIVE makeover with sludgy guitars keeping the grounded reality from escaping the musical masses. The vocals from Van Bassman are simply trippy with a Prophet like quality to them telling folks about the end of the world whilst keeping with a pure Psych Stoner Rock energy.
Second song Mountain sees INSOMNIAC awaken slightly for a heavier an straight forward style of Doom/Stoner Rock which has a slight KYUSS / FU MANCHU drive appearing before the riff-centric energy of early-era QOTSA before the murky Post-Doom heaviness of the excellent guitars from Alex Avedissian and Mike Morris keep the mood slightly aggressive but supremely melodic.
The surroundings of Post-Post and Meditative Metal soon appear with intense melodic guitars and stunning work from INSOMNIAC’s epic rhythm section of Amos Rifkin (Drums) and Juan Garcia (Bass) sees the record move into modern day Prog Sludge territory. The whole song becomes quite thrilling and therapeutic within the final stages reminding of ZOROASTER, BARONESS and MASTODON in equal measure but it’s INSOMNIAC’s willingness to keep themselves within the Psychedelic realms that makes this song a breath of fresh air.
Third track Snow And Ice is a lengthy ten minute opus with INSOMNIAC drawing upon Post-Rock themes, ideas and ice-cold melodies for a song that has a chameleon like effect with the Post-Punk and Gothic Rock tendencies that may take some listeners time to fully get used to.
However, the great use of Psychedelic loops and gloomy feedback loops allows the band to create a haunting and challenging slice of gloomy Americana and Post-Doom heaviness. The vocals are quite unique with a SHAMANIC sound emitting from the speakers. Everything becomes a soothing journey of complex melodies and surreal instrumental and dreamlike soundscapes building up for one intense journey into the unknown.
Fourth song Forest is an Alternative/Shoegaze number with the band changing musical direction yet again but it’s quite a soulful and gloomy offbeat number with the dark undercurrent of the lyrics putting this album into more of the theatre of Sludge Metal. Heavy screeching guitars allows INSOMNIAC to generate some of the most heaviest and aggressive sounds on the album right here. The vocals are sung and placed at the right pitch with them being one of the highlights of the whole record.
The final section of the record allows INSOMNIAC to push back the creative envelope and reinvent themselves once again with a resonating THE VELVET UNDERGROUND influence appearing within tracks Sea, Desert and Awakening whilst exploring heavier musical boundaries with long drawn out instrumental passages and reflective lyrics having quite a profound positive impact.
Well, personally speaking for me especially on Sea and Awakening. I found this style of music beautifully therapeutic and even quite rebellious which is a hard thing to pull for a band’s debut album but INSOMNIAC pull this off with great vision and awareness that makes Om Moksha Ritam one of the most breathtaking and brilliantly surreal pieces of music I’ve heard in a very long time.
Om Moksha Ritam is a record you don’t come across that often and INSOMNIAC deserve credit for delivering a highly unusual but superbly original record to the underground masses.
Words by Steve Howe
Thanks to Purple Sage PR for the promo.
Om Moksha Ritam is available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Blues Funeral Recordings.
