ORIGIN — Omnipresent (review)

ORIGIN — Omnipresent album cover Album · 2014 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Omnipresent" is the 6th full-length studio album by US death metal act Origin. The album was released through Agonia Records in July 2014. It´s the successor to "Entity" from 2011. "Entity (2011)" was recorded by the three-piece lineup Paul Ryan (vocals, guitars), Mike Flores (vocals, bass), and John Longstreth (drums). "Omnipresent" features one lineup change since the predecessor as Jason Keyser has been added to the lineup as lead vocalist, allowing Ryan and Flores to concentrate more on their instruments although they are both still credited with doing backing vocals on "Omnipresent".

Keyser is a relatively ordinary death metal growler (...and there´s nothing wrong with that. He is doing a great job here) and the more dynamic vocal assault from "Entity (2011)" is toned down on "Omnipresent". There is still higher pitched aggressive vocals here and there, but they are not as dominant as they were on the predecessor. Stylistically "Omnipresent" is a bit of a change for Origin. The music style is still relatively brutal and technically well played death metal, but the technical part of the band´s music is not as much in focus as on the preceding releases. The band already began a transformation with more focus on catchy songwriting on "Antithesis (2008)" as opposed to the early releases where it sometimes seemed like the focus was entirely on the technnical aspect of the sound and very little on the actual songwriting, but it´s for example still a bit surprising to hear a D-beat drum rhythm on an Origin track, which actually happens during "Omnipresent". Sure it´s only on one track, but I´m not less surprised.

As expected the musicianship are on a high level on all posts, and while this is not as relentlessly fast and technical as the early releases, it´s still quite challenging and technically well played death metal. "Omnipresent" features a powerful and darker sounding production that what we have been used to on the early releases by the band, and it´s yet another feature to set "Omnipresent" apart from what came before. Upon conclusion it´s another high quality release by Origin, but I wouldn´t call it a step up from "Entity (2011)", which was a really strong release. "Omnipresent" is a pretty strong release, but it doesn´t quite reach the excellent mark in my book. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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