ADRENALINE MOB — Omertá (review)

Album · 2012 · Groove Metal

4/5 · 2012-09-22
adg211288

Omertá is the debut full-length album by US heavy/groove metal act Adrenaline Mob. The 2012 album follows on from the self-titled 2011 EP release, from which all the tracks except a Black Sabbath cover re-appear on the album. Adrenaline Mob are probably most known by now for featuring the vocal talents of Russell Allen and the drumming of Mike Portnoy, both big names from the progressive metal genre with Symphony X and Dream Theater respectively. Omertá is one of a few albums to be released in 2012 to feature Portnoy’s talents since his departure from Dream Theater. Despite the major prog connections, the music of Adrenaline Mob is pretty far removed from either Dream Theater or Symphony X.

Of course anyone who checked out the 2011 EP will already have realised that, and Omertá feels very much like the unabridged version of the EP. For those that decided to skip over the EP and wait for this album though, the sound is part groove metal but with more aspects of traditional heavy metal in the sound than the likes of Pantera or Lamb of God have. Coming to Omertá expecting a prog supergroup will only end in tears in other words. To be fair the sort of music the prog greats have thrown themselves into here is very much a step down, and I for one wasn’t overly impressed with the EP, but leaving any prejudices aside Omertá certainly isn’t a bad release in its own right. This is a very riff driven kind of music, but the real highlight is Allen’s vocals. The man is suited both to this music and his normal stuff with Symphony X in equal measure, and sometimes uses some more aggressive vocals than normal during the course of the album, giving it extra bite. Undaunted is the perfect opener to give the listener a good impression of what the Adrenaline Mob sound is all about. It’s also one of the best tracks on the whole album, if not the best.

Although it feels more solid overall as a more complete package than the EP did, Omertá does ultimately still suffer from the same issues. Adrenaline Mob are a solid heavy metal band but with perhaps the exception this time of that opening track Undaunted they never really manage to wow me, and there is a bit of a consistency issue between the tracks. I’d say it just about earns a ‘great album’ rating from me this time around, where the EP was only ‘good’ but if I’m after traditional metal, whether it is groove metal based or not, Omertá wouldn’t ever be the first album I’d come to. It should carry a range of appeal among metal fans, from traditional metal to groove metal and even fans of alternative metal acts like Disturbed or Godsmack, but even when trying to keep an open-mind I can’t help but feel this was the wrong direction for musicians like Allen and Portnoy to throw themselves in. They’re good at it, but they are masterful at progressive metal, and if there was ever a fan alienating album, then that album is Omertá.

7.5/10

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org) on 08/09/2012)