Oreamnos (a kind of goat apparently?) is the new project from former partners in New York’s Weverin, Matt Schott (also from Valdur and Sxuperion) on drums and vocals, and Sam ‘the harp’ on guitar and bass. And while I have not heard any of Weverin’s considerably obscure discography, I am somewhat familiar with the Valdur and Sxuperion side of the project, having reviewed them both, and to no one’s surprise, it is that same wheelhouse.
And by wheelhouse, it’s the similarly murky blackened death metal. Albeit a tad cleaner, slightly more riff-based and more death metal. But it’s still a cavernous affair, that I’d put in the same area as the likes of Incantation and California’s Ruin, especially Schott’s absolutely dominating (almost overbearing) vocals.
The debut EP is 4 songs, 1 intro and 1 interlude (“Bombastic Utterances”). There are a few atmospheric bridges here and there with some light, mystical effects and samples going on behind the muddy, churning riffs. The riffs, while not quite as full-on ‘ick’ as Sxuperion of Valdur, as there is a slightly cleaner production, still ooze with hefty, malevolent intentions and dense lumbers.
The likes of “Shadow of Misery”, ‘Torrid Hate”, murky, militant throb of “March Towards Oblivion” and heaving plod of “Forlorn (Fire of Despair)” won’t have you humming or whistling along, but certainly deliver a ritualistic pummeling that presents the filthier side of death metal.
