hole brain. Other times, a record drills into me with the immediacy of a bolt of lightning. Omnerod’s sophomore full-length, The Amensal Rise, did a little bit of both to me in 2023. Released back in May, this immense, intense slab of dramatic progressive death metal slowly crept into my skin, but the infection it carried was virulent. I found myself feverishly affected by its horrific tale, and while it took me a while before I returned, once I did, there was no escape.
Omnerod is an odd duck, there’s no doubt about it. Bridging the gap between Devin Townsend Project, Blind the Huntsmen, and Native Construct, these Belgians charge fearlessly into the theatrical, twisted, and dramatic. As I expected from an Omnerod product, a surplus of wacky instrumentation, off-kilter riffing, and wildly entertaining songwriting catapults into my cranium during each and every moment of The Amensal Rise. However, the added horror elements à la Nightmarer and Blindfolded and Led to the Woods make this a much darker, much heavier, and much more immersive affair than Arteries. In execution, Omnerod’s ultimate goal with The Amensal Rise is to fuck with your brain, maintaining a deep sense of foreboding and distrust while luring you into trap after monstrous trap for over an hour—and then make you want to do it all over again.
Between Anthony Deneyer’s unbelievable vocal performance; Romain Jeuniaux’s multifaceted and novel guitar wizardry; André Six’s immense bass heft; and Pablo Schwilden Diaz’s venerable work on the drum kit, the keyboard, and all manner of other percussion, I find myself utterly enraptured by Omnerod’s adventurous songwriting. From the very first explosive crash of opener “Sunday Heat,” The Amensal Rise abuses my bodily system as it repeatedly, mercilessly injects me with fatal doses of adrenaline. Dual-wielding crushing, skronky death metal and light, airy lulls, as on the monumental “Satellites,” Omnerod continue the adrenal abuse as they force my emotions to flick mercilessly from awe into alarm and back again. “Spore,” too, constitutes an unqualified triumph of songwriting dynamics. Its blasting death metal freakouts and tender, smooth jazz reveries make it an absolutely stunning thirteen-minute opus, easily launching itself into Song o’ the Year contention.
Come to think of it, almost every song here offers something compelling and memorable enough to make a play at Song o’ the Year playlists. “Magnets” shifts gears into more straightforward territory, stripping the layers left by its predecessors in favor of seriously infectious prog-death riffing and hooky writing. The title track blends beautifully Omnerod’s progressive death metal core with Danny Elfman-esque balladry and wonderfully twisted effects. Last but not least, closer “The Commensal Fall” brings all of the different directions and explorations ventured into one final conflagration, burning the whole barn down and leaving nothing but rubble and ash behind.
Perhaps most importantly, though, The Amensal Rise works without condition as a singular, unified experience. Yes, it’s extremely long at a lofty seventy minutes, but there’s never a dull moment and I find myself helplessly immersed in the whole terrifying trek. If you miss it, it is truly your loss.
Tracks to Check Out: “Satellites,” “Spore,” “The Amensal Rise,” “The Commensal Fall”
