Style: Progressive...? Metal - really I don't know, this album is unique
Primary Emotions/Themes: A glorious foray into the experimental metal realm
Thoughts: I had heard Heart of Ages before this. That album was... interesting. I'm not sure if it was interesting good or interesting bad, but it certainly had some unique ideas. The vocals in particular alternated between some dramatic and over the top cleans and some absolutely banshee-esque harsh vocals. It was an experimental black metal album through and through. So imagine my surprise when I put the follow up on and it started with a string quartet.
299 796 Km/S (or the speed of light) is the epic opening track for Omino. I know I never heard a track like this before I put this album on for the first time, and I don't think I've heard another track like it since. Maybe something Winds would have put out, but even that... the scope isn't nearly as ambitious as the opener.
299796 Km/S has more in common with a classical piece than it does most metal. As mentioned before the song starts out with a string quartet outlining the major melody of the song. It's not long before the band joins in and begins our fifteen minute adventure. To chronicle the whole thing in words would take far too long, and still not even get close to the epic scope of this track.
The remainder of the album largely forgoes the strings, but is no less interesting than the opening track. The album twists and turns through peaks and valleys like nothing else I've ever heard. At points it sounds like an ambient album done through metal instrumentation. Other times it sounds like a heavier version of 70's prog groups. Yet other times it sounds like classical compositions carried out with metal instrumentation. As outrageous as all of this sounds, it never feels out of place on the album and all of the songs fit together way better than I would have expected.
In the Woods... would become even more experimental after this, and I don't enjoy Strange In Stereo nearly as much as I do Omino. As is the case with many experimental bands they can be hit or miss. While much of their other entries are a miss for me, for one glorious album they managed to do everything right and create an absolute masterpiece.
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