The beauty of doing these reviews is how I can listen to one album years ago that I completely forgot to revisit, and then suddenly see the same band put out a new album which then grasps my attention. It fascinates me, even more, when said band manages to astound me with the said new album. Two years ago, Ommadon put out an eponymous effort, but it was far from their first outing, and I simply wasn’t ready for what they threw down with that record. Now, I’ve become more seasoned with my music experience, and Ommadon has created something that I can truly sink my teeth into and dive into like few other kinds of records.

One of the greatest things I’ve found about extreme metal is how truly extreme it can be. Sure, we get pure onslaughts of chaotic energy with styles like grind being some of the craziest metal on the planet, but there are other avenues to travel down. There’s a space in the cosmic void where metal starts to fade away and something else takes its place: noise. It’s a very harsh, unforgiving sound that rarely has a corporeal form. Acts like MRTVI and Tome of the Unreplenished have been great introductions to the style for me, and their sounds are undeniably harsh, but even then there’s a darker place. That region is truly primitive and extremely few bands manage to go there. It’s unforgiving, unknown, and somewhere that the human soul doesn’t go to naturally; you have to force it to go to such a place. Enter Ommadon who has been dwelling in that abyssal cavern for a decade now, and they’ve honed their daggers to become vicious daggers of pure shadow, madness, and primal fear the likes of which we’ve only seen one a handful of occasions if ever. “End Times” is a very accurate name, and as their new album it will do more than simply put them on the map, but it will decimate any and all who feel brave enough to endure its 43-minute runtime.

 Easily, the thing that drew me to “End Times” outside of the fact that I had already become associated with the name of Ommadon was how the record is essentially one near 43-minute track cut in two (I think for the purposes of vinyl, but I’m not positive). I am a true sucker for that kind of shit, and Ommadon hooked me immediately with their special blend of destruction. Another thing is how Ommadon is almost completely instrumental as “End Times” features a literal handful of instances where a voice appears, and even then it could just be distorted noise as I wouldn’t put that past this act. The whole of “End Times” is a tasty drone experience that I haven’t seen before, and I’m not exactly a stranger to the world of drone. Ommadon managed to literally capture the soundtrack to the ending of the world itself, and it couldn’t be anymore captivating. The doldrums that Ommadon throw down with “End Times” are the immersive, all-consuming, soul-devouring madness that crazed souls seek out and are the only ones that can find enjoyment out of what shouldn’t be enjoyed. This is the furthest from easy-listening that one can get, it’s an outcast of all things music to the nth degree, and it’s a unique primitive heaviness that no band will be able to duplicate now or ever, that I’m sure of. “End Times” is a record that is daunting from start to finish, but there’s no denying that the glory is in the challenge of enduring such an onslaught of the unnatural world, and then diving right back in for another helping.

There’s just no other way to put it: Ommadon is a band that only the fucked up can find delight in, and I suppose I’m one of them as I see nothing but wonder among the smoldering ruins that Ommadon always leaves in their path with their monsoons of pure fire and hail made of human bones. “End Times” is hopefully far from the end for this monolithic act of the apocalypse, and I’ll be glad to become a disciple of this true chaos if it means to bask in the nuclear fallout that both this album and band have been able to create from the earth itself.

“End Time” releases on May 1st via Dry Cough Records, At War With False Noise, DGRecords, and Medusa Crush Recordings!

LISTEN to Ommadon’s previous, self-titled effort on Bandcamp here or via YouTube below.

LIKE Ommadon on Facebook here.

FOLLOW Ommadon on Twitter: @OmmadonDoom