REVIEW: Precostal by Ommeta

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Clocking in just shy of 21 minutes - Precostal from Auckland's Ommeta packs 5 tracks of polished, yet chaotic progressive technical death metal in a dangerously small commute sized EP (a recent speeding citation from a 25 minute journey this weekend confirms this).

Known predominantly for production work as Primal Mastering - Ommeta is the latest outlet for former Helgorithms guitarist Luke Finlay, and the evolution, and refinement of skills both behind, and in front of the console are ever present - making Precostal of the best sounding debut EPs I’ve heard in a long time.

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I've been listening to the EP for the last week or so with a variety of headphones, earbuds, and speakers as I move between home and work - and whilst there's nothing like sharing new music with your neighbours, I get the feeling they (and I) far prefer my experience be through headphones.

Unlike a lot of technical death metal albums that pack everything as tight as they can; the mix on Precostal feels spacious and light, yet full of harsh guttural growls. The track Screw Cap offers an almost three dimensional feeling along with it’s occasional discordant timing - with vocals feeling distanced from guitars and drums leaving room for each instrument to breathe.

Musically - I get flashes of Origin or Archespire mixing it up with Spastik Ink - a chaotic and technical extreme blended with avant-garde prog and I love it - except the drums, in part they feel a little too programmed; but not enough to discount everything else I dig about this release.

The verdict? I want more - and I want it live!

Precostal releases August 2nd 2019.

album reviewMark DerricuttComment