Ah, the woes of Pop Metal out there in the alloy-infested wild. Some of it is good, and most of it is bad. But they all are energetic to a point, somewhere up there with the Power Metal folks. Only that the majority of those records feels like a maniacal Barbie Cheesefest for grownups with a metal twist. And that netted some big bands like Amaranthe the might of our terrible banhammer. Theirs is just too much of a money grab with overdone tropes1 that we all heard a gazillion times before.
So, the RMR review desk’s loath to even touch any of those soundalikes that roam the fantasy-laden, multicolored realms of that specific branch. And yet. A Dark Halo‘s newest piece Omnibus One forever crept back into the streaming queue. So, there must be something more to it than just beastly beats, high-pitched wails, and cheesy sugar-coated synths some others offer. Thus, back into exploration mode! Serious space probing ahead. Warp 5, Scotty!
It is indeed Thin Be The Veil with its thrashy, pseudo-progressive opening à la Nevermore that made us listen up. For a short while, this indeed sounded like young Jeff Loomis on a row all over again. But no, heavy chugging gives way to a mix of industrial injections and some Hard ‘n’ Metalcore moments that suddenly emerge. All of this comes with sometimes crafty solos seesawing about the soundscape. And true enough, A Dark Halo call themselves Cyber Metal – and they try to live up to that as good cyberpunks must.
Omnibus One is full of those vocoder-ized clear voice vocals. And I’m not sure that this truly is a very good idea. Methinks also that not many of the clears are truly unaltered. Some indeed got that typical robotic hue to them, and others fell prey to rash distortion as if they emerged from warp space. Filters that seem to be universally assigned by those beauties of the Pop Metal realm. Even if they try hard to pound you into the dust with synth-heavy beats and vocals that sometimes sound like early Lacuna Coil.
Yet here, A Dark Halo kinda gallivants freely across different styles to get its messaging straight. And that definitely is one of its strengths. You’ll get treated to different slightly proggy undercurrents. As in the aforementioned Thrash-infused prog style the Loomis man liked to employ. Or some easy offshoot of Power Prog will greet you in I, Revenant, a bit similar to the style Red Cain used to throw at ye. This is probably the most astonishingly rough ‘n’ feisty song on this record with its raw mix of synth, robotic vocals, and Death Metal growls. The RMR crew appreciated the darkly ominous menace of It Never Sleeps with its tasty switch from clears to growls. The meaty Afterworlds contains some nice harmonies in the midst of some metallic brutality with a pretty cool solo to boot.
But you’ll also find duds on Omnibus One. Lengthy passages that seem heavily synthesized with not much going on. Flame Betide – for instance – tries to bore you to tears with dime-a-dozen Pop Metal offerings. The only ray of light being the shoutout to Xaon’s Eros. And that turns parts of the record into a tedious listen. Which in turn, makes the decidedly short 37 minutes of airtime seem overly long.
So finally, we stand corrected. It is indeed so that the abundant use of synthesized poppy sounds on Omnibus One almost got on our wrong side. However, this album is in another league if compared to its brethren. You’ll find a savvy mix of multilayered metallic goodness. Free-flowing electronica facing brutal breakdowns into the darker realms of the metal multiverse. And we specifically appreciated the mix of female and male vocals that often rival the darker realms of older Gothic and Melodic Metal. And that pertinent cyber flavor you’ll find all over the record almost made us want to don a spacesuit and take off to somewhere. So, to all those adepts of the Metal o’ the Light, go for it. As to the grizzled members of the metal multiverse, give it a try. Omnibus One may be able to surprise you after all.
Record Rating: 6/10 | Label: Self-Released | Web: Facebook (band)
Release Date: 14 July 2023
- Oh noes, RMR rosy diplomacy hard at work. Amaranthe is a pain in the ass. Simply put. -Ed.-↩