“Above and Beyond, They Provide” – Omnium Gatherum’s Energetic Headlining Set at Brick by Brick

 March 11th, 2022

From Demilich, Imsomnium, Kalmah, Children of Bodom (RIP Alexi), Finntroll, Sentenced, and countless others, Metal from Finland has made quite the impact upon the planet.  Everlasting albums from the above, as well as an often, yet special Folky aspect, stamping its signature sound with full approval.  Added to that list, Omnium Gatherum.  Melodic Death Metal with a nebulous keyboard sound, and a “joyous” aspect from the band members.  The good times roll, when they’re on the stage.  And to that occasion, this would be their first headlining tour in North Amerirca.  Only seeing them as main support a few times, I could feel the anticipation of what the overall setlist and ability we could see with Omnium Gatherum, and they brought along one hell of a tour package:  Allegaeon, and Black Crown Initiate.  Theosis would be opening the San Diego show today, and this Friday night would be in store of beaming performance.     

The trip to San Diego.  The delectable food around San Diego.  The character and sight-seeing of San Diego.  The illusive, breathtaking waterfronts and beaches in San Diego.  My favorite city in California.  Make this adventurous trip, sooner than later.

          Starting off this Melodic Death Metal-themed evening, San Diego’s local (for now) act, Theosis.  Introducing the song, an ascending high-sounding scream, with outstanding control all through the entire duration.  The higher register screams and harsh range from John Haskins, as well as seeing the physical control he displayed while singing it so effortlessly, was quite a feat.  From fast-paced solos, crushing speed and energy displayed, by the changing fills of Omar Gutierrez, and harmonious melodies, Theosis made the most of the opening set of the night.  Brick by Brick, as it has been the past several times I’ve attended the venue, quite packed at this point, roaring in approval for Theosis, particularly the exhilarating exchanges of melody and shredding leads from Lee Burgos and Dana Roselli.  I loved watching the tempos changing between key solo parts and interludes.  I felt it allowed the musical counterpoints to continue and create a new musical concept for the songs.  With only a single album they’ve released thus far, The Plague and the Heretic, with live shows returning at a higher frequency, perhaps Theosis will have new material to release.  Impressive opening on this night.

            Seeing Black Crown Initiate replace Hour of Penance on the ScepticFlesh/Fleshgod Apocalypse tour in 2014, was my first experience discovering the band.  It was a pleasant surprise, and jump forward in time several years, the crowd reaction was especially glowing radiantly, for Black Crown Initiate.  Three of the 5 songs performed tonight, off their most recent release, Violent Portraits of Doomed Escape, continuing the darker, progressive musical direction.  Andy Thomas’s celestial voice, filled with character, solemness, and emotional narration, brought forth the beginning of “Invitation”.  The heart strings flutter with the subtle acoustic guitar, eventually crashing down with harsh vocalist James Dorton increasing the lyrical speed, all while Thomas’s and Greg Paulsen’s 8-string inferno scorch the listener.  These were elements, not as prolific or frequent with Black Crown Initiate’s earliest work, and the elements of this latest album, completely displays the impactful strengths of the band.  Of course, the fan-favourite track, “A Great Mistake” made an appearance, with that unforgettable, hypnotic, percussive-like intro, reminding the fans of the earlier, you could possibly say, “musically brighter” side of Black Crown Initiate.  Bassist Zak Braskin’s stunning looking bass guitar on stage, and sounded as beautiful as it looked, standing out with prominent tone between the cleaner guitar passages.  I felt the bass compliment, especially during the last minute-plus of “Holy Silence”, with the blissful guitar melody by Thomas and Paulsen, having a Spanish guitar-like rhythm and overtones.  The band’s 5-song, 30-minute set was criminally short, given too their song average over 6 minutes, I felt the crowd was ready for another shift in high-speed gear.  Black Crown Initiate looked marveled at the welcoming reception, but for my perspective, given the high quality of their work and shows the past several years, it wasn’t surprising at all.  A sadly short, but equally stunning performance.        

1.  Invitation

2.  Son of War

3.  Belie the Machine

4.  A Great Mistake

5.  Holy Silence

            For the next roughly 45-minutes, Allegaeon let their Technical Melodic Death Metal prowess completely devastate the audience.  Relentless tempo changes, mesmerizing wizardry of the fretboard, Classical demented overtones found conceptionally in the riffs, are just some of the aspects you’ll discover with Allegaeon.  Riley McShane’s diverse and quality vocal work, ranging from beautiful clean vocals, to menacing growls and gutturals, has taken Allegaeon to another plateau.  Not only are the vocals alone, are excellent, but also are evident in their latest record, Damnum, the vocal delivery and range Riley performs, colours into the Progressive elements within the band.  “Of Beasts and Worms” displays steel-crushing growls, pounding the listener into sand, all while bringing them back from the dead around the 2:30 mark, combining Death Metal elements to the sonic-induced chaos from the instruments.  Founder and guitarist Greg Burgess’s vision and guitar ability, continuing to remind me of the outstanding nature and “voice” Allegaeon resonate vividly with.  Aggressively headbanging, while nailing each blistering, complex note with remarkable ease, flaunting forth the advanced style that made Allegaeon who they were, all the way back in 2008.  “1.618”, from their excellent 2014 album, Elements of the Infinite, closed this flaming wrecking ball of a set. One of the newest members of the band, Jeff Saltzman’s hyperblasting of the intro, as well as creative cymbal fills, everflow of changing drum riffs/patterns, and calculating, pummeling double-bass, showed his astonishing technique, further cementing how spoiled we are as Metal fans, of the magnificent drumming ability we get to experience on a consistent, almost daily basis.  Next to the main act to follow, Allegaeon received the largest reaction from the crowd, anxiously awaiting their next performance, hopefully as a headliner.  It’s been too long since I saw Allegaeon in concert, and my breath was taken away from it.        

1.  Threshold of Perception

2.  Into Embers

3.  Of Beasts and Worms

4.  Gray Matter Mechanics – Apassionata Ex Machinea

5.  Vermin

6.  Metaphobia

7.  Stellar Tidal Disruption

8.  1.618

            The 80’s-like intro to “Emergence”, got the crowd ever so engaged.  Fresh off their new record this past November, Origin, the atmosphere and synth-driving tone of the keyboards, provided by Aapo Koivisto, embarked a new journey and uniqueness for Omnium Gatherum.  It not only stood out on its own, but it created this joyful, musical narration for the rest of the instruments.  As iconic, as are the famous PA intros of songs and albums we rest in our hearts, I personally give extra brownie points to bands that attempt to play either part, or the entire portion, of those intros.  Having an astounding musician and keyboardist as Aapo, can make that street avenue, become available to cross.

            It resonated throughout the interludes and slower portions of the set.  The overall volume of the keyboards, could have been slightly louder, but thankfully there were numerous times it was heard vastly to this rabid, excited crowd.  “Paragon” continues the trend of the sensational keyboard work, as well as a common, yet delightful theme found throughout Origin:  The guitar solo section, often slowed down far greater than the rest of the song, allowing the guitar solo itself to feel heard more, in that “moment”.  The sudden change in tempo, you can feel the notes and glistening harmony further.  Markus Vanhala’s vision and insightful ability of playing Melodic Death Metal music, was evident in the blissfulness he looked on-stage:  Performing clean whammy bar effects, exciting melodies, and compelling Melodic Death Metal riffs in a flashy, entertaining style.  He took on the assignment of standing out, and did so in soaring colours.  You can hear the evolution in his playing, particularly the slower aspects of the songs, where the enriching detail felt important and up-front.  It certainly cannot hurt, the fact that Markus joined Insomnium in 2011.  I can only imagine how even greater of a guitar player and songwriter he is now, as iron sharpens iron.

            The most engaging member of Omnium Gatherum, even above the overall excitement you could feel on the stage, Jukka Pelkonen’s navigation all across the stage, as well as acknowledging nearly the entire audience, at several points of the show.  Feasting off the mosh pits that span through a majority of the set, and the sheer-honest smiles found in Brick by Brick, Jukka delivered a powerful performance vocally, displaying constant movement all within their 80-minute set.  Jukka introduced “Nail” to shocked (and) “awe-dience”, with this track dating back to 2008 on The Redshift.  I felt the catchiness and hooks within their melodic riffs, was a key point in their earlier time, and it was rather nostalgic, to hear earlier forms of Melodic Death Metal.         

            Omnium Gatherum’s set constantly varied, from groovy-like intros on the older tracks, to the sizzling twin guitar melodies found in their later material.  And with a headlining set like this, it did the band justice.  Seeing them first open in the states with Dark Tranquillity, and eventually Insomnium, there’s so much a band cannot do while supporting.  But the colourful sides and full deck of cards, were distributed throughout Omnium Gatherum’s 16-song performance.

            Finland’s unique style of Folk, Melodic Death Metal, has spanned for decades now, creating some of the most inspiring Melodic Metal you can find.  Omnium Gatherum’s has taken a step towards that uplifting path, out with a diverse and memorable new album, Origin.  It’s going to be difficult to see the band perform 30-minute sets from here on out, but at the least, Omnium Gatherum’s first headlining tour in North America, was worth the wait.

1.  Emergence

2.  Paragon

3.  The Pit

4.  Rest in Your Heart

5.  Reckoning

6.  Frontiers

7.  The Unknowing

8.  Be the Sky

9.  Nail

10.  Friction

11.  New World Shadows

12.  Gods Go First

13.  Skyline

14.  Luoto

15.  New Dynamic

16.  Solemn