OHM
Released: October 1, 2013
Label: Artoffact Records
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As if it were some strange homage to the early days of FLA, Ohm’s self-titled album release is nothing short of an awesome hot mess. Normally, I don’t really “get” the whole experimental/minimalist/electronic/industrial thing, but I was pretty surprised with this album. It’s a little cliché in the vintage department, and a little homogenous in general, but I ended up really digging the album as a whole.
Perhaps this is due to the name of the first song, “When Robots Fuck”; it just speaks to me. Again I will say it’s very minimalist, but there is something so inorganic about the synths and vocoders that it’s hard not to love. It sounds like microchips. The second track, “Car Crash” is a little darker and a little more industrial in nature. The lyrics in this track aren’t so distorted, and I could finally tell that there’s a human involved in this band. As I listened to the unsettling whispers, I used my reasoning skills to deduce that this song is about a car crash.
The following tracks are a bit more abstract, but they do maintain that darkness that the second track introduced. “Detroit” and “Divinity” both have this very raw, very analogue charm. “Divinity” is hands-down my favorite track on this album. Maybe this is because this was one of the only songs with a solid arrangement, but I think it’s also because it’s pretty reminiscent of old Skinny Puppy.
Deeper into the album, there are some purely shapeless experimental songs that I didn’t have the patience to sit through, but it picks up again with a track titled “Destroyed in Seconds”. It’s a build up of a song with many beat changes and spooky, windy synthesizer effects and, in a very 1990s-industrial fashion, the lyrics seem to be shouted from a distance.
The final two tracks are half shit and half gold. What should have been the closing track is a song called “Brute”; yes it does live up to its name. It’s heavy, powerful, and slightly reminiscent of KMFDM. It would have made an awesome album finale, but unfortunately that place is taken by a three and a half minute nap called “My Kingdom”.
The final verdict here is really that Ohm’s release is definitely respectable. It’s got its down falls (tracks six and ten) but I really recommend it to all of you who have robot ears.
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