If my memory correctly serves, I recall Oni being hyped as in the same vein as Black Crown Initiate. Progressive, djent-style death metal seemed to be the name of the game. When I went back and listened to Ironshore, I realized how much I liked it, and it had fallen off my radar. Will Alone be more of the same, or will we see some progression.

The first selection from the latest offering of Oni, is the title track, “Alone.” I was not expecting clean vocals to start almost immediately. At first, I was wondering if this is the same vocalist from the previous record, which research tells me it is. While Jake Oni is still listed as the vocalist, I found his cleans on the opening track to sound a little like All That Remains. The chorus on “Alone” is fantastic, and it carries the song, as a good hook should. This is an excellent start to the proceedings.

The second song on the album, “Rift” sounds to me like what I expected, based on their previous effort. Track #3, “Dead Inside” follows along this route as well, with a solid trade off between clean vocals and growls. The finger tapping lead through the chorus is a nice touch, and I particularly enjoy the end of the song.

To wrap up this EP, we have “Breathe Again” and “Faceless Portrait.” I enjoyed both of those tracks and they fit in well with the rest of the album. Of course, when it’s been 4 years, one would like to see a full-length album, but if this were grindcore or tech death, 25 minutes could be considered such. Overall, I enjoyed this little taste of where it seems like Oni will be going, look forward to the next full length, and hope I am not Alone in that assessment.

What I can tell you, is that the band is still epic as hell, and as with the debut, the star of the show is female vocalist Helena Haaparanta  who along with the rasps of Mikko Häkkinen, provides some glorious vocal moments to the proceedings, which are already pretty epic due to founder Jakke Viitala’s ample and rousing orchestration and choirs.

As with a recent discovery of mine Atlas Pain, there is a heavy power metal feel to the material, and with Haaparanta’s voice and the choirs, the likes of Epica often come to mind here and there, with a Gothic vibe to the epic power/blackish metal. But what stands out is the sheer grandiosity of the songs as Crimfall certainly know their way around an epic number.

After Intro “Eschaton” the album’s first single and standout “The Last of Stands” delivers one of my very favorite songs of the year. Much like “The Crown of Treason” opened As the Path Unfolds,  and has stayed in heavy rotation, this track looks to do the same with a sheer guilty pleasure level of cheese that the likes of Pathfinder or Twilight Force might deliver, but with just that added level of blackened extremity amid the  bombastic, over the top theatrics.

I just wish the rest of the album just matched the brilliance of the opener. It’s all pretty good, and certainly epic, with the focal point being the 4 part “Ten Winters Apart”  which seems intent to tell a story rather than deliver great songs. It’s a shame because after such a goddamn rousing start, the more ballad paced duo of  “Ten Winters Apart, Pt. 1: Far from Any Fate” and “Pt. 2: Song of Mourn” kind of brings the exciting album opening to screeching halt. “Pt. 3: Sunder the Seventh Seal”, sort of gets back on track, but the moment is a little lost.

It’s not until penultimate “Wayward Verities” that the moment is back with a another rousing brilliant, epic folk/celtic romp, but to be honest I’m still kind of recovering from the proceeding track. You see, Crimfall placed a cover song awkwardly in the album, not tacked on the end, and it’s a cover of “It’s a Long Road” by Dan Hill, and famously reworked by Jerry Goldsmith and used in Sylvester Stallone’s First Blood movie. Yep. that song. Complete with orchestration and choirs.

By the time the rangy, slow burning 8 minute closer “Until Falls the Rain”, I’m still thinking about the cover song, deciding if I like it or hate it, and frankly all I want to do is listen to “The Last of Stands” again, and that might be the only song I come back to regularly. It’s that good. I just wish the rest of the album followed suit.