Omnium Gatherum Bio

OMNIUM GATHERUM is a "melodic" death metal combo from the wastes of Finland, hailing from Karhula, the sub-urban and metal capital of Kotka. OG produce complex but accessible death metal that incorporates elements of thrash and tradl metal without ever sounding derivate. Top quality Finnish steel, in other words. It has said also that if you mix At The Gates, Katatonia, Death and Judas Priest there's the recipe to OMNIUM GATHERUM stuff! OMNIUM GATHERUM came into being somewhere in time at autumn 1996. After a year of hard training and song writing OG recorded their first demo tape "Forbidden Decay" containing atmospheric melodical death metal in the spring -97. Following self-financed releases were the OG cd-ep in -98 and "Gardens, Temples…this Hell!" mcd in -99. Especially "Gardens.." started to arouse much positive stir in the metal underground, but no good record deals were offered yet. Fourth promo-demo "Wastrel" was released on May `01 and it was infact the first one which was promoted widely to companies and magazines. The band found it`s own identity in this release and the line-up was now almost completed; only keyboard player have changed since the days of "Wastrel". It brought to OG lots of words of praise like its predecessor as reviewers praised the originality of the music, with the review in Terrorizer summing it up quite nicely: "…there is a sense of something special happening here. Technically the sextet have got it all worked out, but if I could apply the word 'beautiful' to metal songs then I would do so here because they are as complete as would be expected from any top class album." In December 2001, a new and growing label RAGE OF ACHILLES Records from England offered a deal that sounded sensible and after signing it OG was sent straight to the Sonic Pump studios in late December to re-record "Wastrel" demo to be released as a debut MCD. The title was changed to "Steal the light" so that no one would mistake it for the demo. The mcd containing 5 songs of quality Finnish melodeath was released in September 2002. It achieved great reviews and feedback all around the world and Kerrang! Magazine even voted OG to "TOP21 bands you should hear". In August 2002 OG entered the Sonic Pump studios again to record their first full-length album called "Spirits and August Light". The album was released in April `03 thru Rage Of Achilles Records and the album got licensed also to Japan by Hot Rockin`Records and to South-America by Hellion Records. "Spirits.." album proved starting from the fast thrashy opener piece "Writhen" to the last slow oppressive "It Shines" that there's still request to melodic death metal record without those new wave clean vocal choruses and give a real 9-piece lesson about groovy violent Finnish rage with feel! …and now the band is really in it's own way, nobody can't claim the band anymore to be usual Scandinavian melodic death metal band! The "Spirits and August Light" album made it again even to greater reviews than the previous ones and there has been given even some "album of the month" titles to the album. The metal media have praised the band to be "A new wave" of death metal as for example Metal Hammer magazine ranked OG on their feature "A new wave of European death metal" among the bands Opeth, Haunted, In Flames, Soilwork and Red Harvest. Here's what the article said about OG: "Classically inclined operatic metal at its most snobbish. Lead breaks to make metal gods Judas Priest weep, and vocals that lift them out of any black metal pit. If Opeth are the Pink Floyd of this scene, then Omnium are likely to turn into Rush at the very least. Hammer recommends: "spirits and august light"" After the album release OG have played as many gigs as possible and have opened the gigs for example for such big bands as Children Of Bodom and Zyklon. The band made also a music video from the song "Writhen" at spring `03, which was directed by Ville Salonen. The new album "Years In Waste" is now bred and is waiting to be unleashed at the end of the year 2004! Again, musically the next level is entered!