OM

Romanian Atomospheric Black Metal?... To be frank, I was immediately skeptical. Where you can color me intrigued is their institution and utilization of Romanian folk music. I presume. But I've been surprised aplenty before. This is Negura Bunget's fourth studio album, released 2006, ten years following their debut. What I can say here, according to my own tastes, utterly ignorant of the appeal to most Black Metal, is this just feels a tad overrated. That's all. [Looking back two years later now, I'm far less ignorant of Black Metal and am pleased to say there's much from across the playing field which I find more than enjoyable.]

Om starts off in the eeriest ambience possible on "Ceasuri Rele"... I don't recall 2006 being this frightening haha. The clanging guitar barrage on "Tesarul de Lumini" honestly reminded me of Deftones, I'm surprised to say. This harsh drone lasts for nearly 2 minutes; despite this, a strangely positive-sounding apparent main theme. The feel of the drums throughout feels very free, like he's just doing his own thing here. There are some big, booming riffs and intermittent ambience. Not super wild about it. They're good at what they do, at least. The "Primal Om" is exactly what you'd expect. Group 'oms' continue until nearly its 2 minute mark and are replaced by big 'n' wide synths and what sound like random wind-chimings. And then it's "Cunoasterea Tacuta", with resounding, sweeping guitars and sharp, clanging drums (much better here). There is a nice rhythmic shift around minute 1 and the bass is far busier than before, it seems. Once again, we get some interesting percussion. We love some texture. This one has a lot going on. Cool rhythmic choices and interesting guitar effects, like the clanging looped chords in the middle section.

Some of the drumming thus far has been a tad jazzy and here, on "Inarborat", we get this interesting saxophone? Or... is it just keys? Because if so, it's really impressively captured here. [I guess it's one of these "pipes"?] As it gets into things, this is revealed to be a more traditional Black Metal track. Next, "Dedesuptul" is intense... Wow. There is a lot going on here. Quiet moments, harsh and wildly uncontrolled attacks, and then, quickly approaching the fifth minute, this very strange, dark other passage is presented. We enter with tribal beats on the ethereal "Norilor". Very interesting. The percussion is super cool, but the keys/synths were just meh here. We are back into classic Black Metal beeves on "De Piatra". There's something here... I mean, really, a more than decent track.

"Cel din Urma vis" is next in a low and slow intro and then more crunchy, classic blackened riffs. Pretty cool opening happens around minute 7 before a return to the main riff. It's alright. Then it really opens up on "Hora Soarelui". There is a really cool use of pipes here, and very interesting clean vocals; I actually quite like this. A lot more acoustic, more rooted in folk tradition. Finally we have "Al Doilea Om", a nice way to tie it all together. Looming and droning over just 2 minutes to close it all out.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0