Album Review: Om - Advaitic Songs

Album Rating: A-

For years, Om has been making deeply meditative music that transports the listener to a world of absorbing and bizarre sounds.  Thought of as the “thinking man’s” metal band, Om’s music is deceptively deep, and largely a tough sell to those unfamiliar with more contemplative songwriting.  From the band’s outset, the duo has featured long form compositions that take their time in giving the listener a payoff.  While this has been what has made the band seem “unwelcoming,” for fans this is what makes Om so appealing.  With all the weird eastern influences and droning soundscapes, Om is unique, giving listeners a one of a kind sound.  This is carried over into the band’s latest, Advaitic Songs, their most impressive outing to date.

Artist of the Day: Om

Om is an anomaly in many ways, existing within many realms of the musical world and blending seamlessly with each.  Featuring a sound that mixes parts of metal, doom, psychedelic, ambient and even some post rock, Om has crafted four critically acclaimed records worthy of all the verbose hyperbole they've gotten.  What makes the band even more appealing is the fact that they are so consistent.  Each album grows in some way, making each listen rewarding whether it be more interesting, heavier, or more experimental. 

With their latest, Advaitic Songs, Om has brought together every influence that has ever defined them. The opener, "Addis" proves this with its tribal approach, as eerie and beautiful female vocals float above the violin and guitar.  Whereas some Om material is decidedly heavy, with booming guitars and bass, it is selections like this that display how the band is capable of conceptual heaviness.  Not the booming in your ear type, but rather, the immediately effectual type that creates a pervasive, all-encompassing atmosphere.

Advaitic Songs, and the band as whole, is full of surprises such as this.  However, to give them all away would ruin the wonderment of discovering them for yourself.