ARAÑAS EN LA SOMBRA

I definitely think that I approached the ORL IPECAC recordings with the wrong perspective and mindset by thinking that these were all going to be more scattershot and messy. While they may be largely just collections of demos and unreleased music that he threw at the record label and told them to do whatever they felt like with them, these have been shockingly good and varied. Time and time again they've shown themselves to be these very solid, cohesive albums that take on rather different styles and never feel as if they were unreleased due to a lack of quality. While this takes on a more standard Omar feel than the previous 3 albums in this series, there's still a lot to love here, with everything being drenched in a hazey reverb that cuts out some of the more abrasive sounds in favour of something a little more psychedelic, especially when looking at elements like the wobbly synth noises on Extravagants Dietes that further add to this atmosphere.

This also definitely feels like it's the album that contains the most demo material, not just because of the fact that it bears a lot more similarities to past albums, with the guitar evoking a lot of Bedlam In Goliath's frenetic madness in particular, but even the more lo-fi recording and the raw nature of it all contribute to this feeling. This shines most brightly in Primitivo y Barbaro bearing a lot of similarities to the middle section of Metatron, which impressively manages to capture a lot of that song's explosive energy despite not having Cedric's vocals or Thomas Pridgen beating a drumkit to death at mach speed. Overall a fantastic album, though not one that I especially think is essential listening to anyone other than big Omar Rodriguez Lopez fans that want to hear as much of his music as possible (me), since there are other albums that are a bit more polished and final sounding that utilise a lot of these ideas. Amazing, but inessential all the same, strongly recommended for fans, and to be fair, new listeners would find a lot to love in this as well, it's just that there are some other albums that I'd send their way before considering this one.