By Jonny Bakes
For some reason, the 13th of September was a very popular date for album releases this year, with a whole slew of albums being released on this day anyone would think that Friday the 13th has some sort of significance… And if you’re going to release a horror themed album, then what better date to pick than Friday the 13th? That’s exactly what Ohmwork thought when they picked the date to unleash their fourth album, ‘HorrorWorks’, which follows what was their most successful release to date. The question is how does ‘HorrorWorks’ shape up? Or more simply – Rob Zom-to-be or Rob Zom-not-to-be?
This Norwegian power trio have built quite the name for themselves in the seven years since they unleashed their sound upon the world. Known for hard hitting drum grooves, heavy bass lines and plenty of energy, the band were particularly successful in the release of their concept album ‘Alyssa Drone’ in 2017. But the question arose – where next? The guys set to work on trying to produce something that would continue the trajectory that ‘Alyssa Drone’ set them on, and the answer was another concept album. And of course, what do metal fans love as much as music? Horror.
Running down through the track list, some of the stories and inspirations are pretty clear. There’s a cameo from Typhoid Mary, the famous spreader of disease who was believed to be responsible for more than 50 deaths. One track tells the tale of the murders at 112 Ocean Avenue, of Amityville Horror fame and there’s even a song dedicated to the relatively recent unsolved mystery of the death of Elisa Lam.
The album gets off to a really promising start with a Hawkwind-like synth solo which leads into a good heavy riff, but it doesn’t quite maintain this momentum throughout the album. Overall, the album has a real mix of styles, from upbeat hard rock tracks to some slow doomy numbers with the use of synth that gives a bit of a prog tinge to some of the tracks which is definitely something that helped maintain my interest to see the album through to the end. I found that there was something lacking in the overall mix, however, that resulted in the vocals falling a little bit flat at points.
The opening track, ‘Phantom Killer,’ has that really intriguing opening with the classic 80s sounding wailing guitar riff to back it up. It’s certainly a strong choice for an album opening track that sets the tone for what you might expect from the rest of the album, is a shame that the vocals don’t quite live up to the power of the introduction. That’s not too say that the vocals are poor, they just pack the power that the music cries out for. A real strong voice of the likes of Dio would have completed this in my opinion.
‘Sleep Killing’ starts with a real slow, heavy, sleazy riff with plenty of distortion. This time the vocals seem more matched to the music, sticking to the deeper vocals in line with the downtuning of the guitars works far better for Anders. This track was the first single to be released for the album which works for me as the feel of this is what I would want to hear from this album. But if you do find yourself really enjoying this track, you could find that the variety of the rest of the album doesn’t quite do it for you!
So, overall, this ended up being a bit of a middle of the road album for me. Musically there is a good amount that excites me, but often it’s let down by the vocals. Anders lacks the vocal power to nail the high wails that some of the tracks call for, which results in a bit of a flat sound. The tracks where the vocals stay in those lower octaves work far better in my opinion. If you’re after a good blend of horror and metal, there are certainly better examples out there I would say.
- ‘HorrorWorks’ is out now.
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