By: Andrew Field
Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 24/04/2020
Label: Stickman
Records
“Omens” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1).
Omens
2).
In Procession
3).
Halcyon
4).
Embers
5).
One Light Retreating
The Review:
“Omens” is the
destination Elder have been promising to arrive
at since 2011’s “Dead Roots Stirring”. If “Lore”
(2015) and “Reflections of a Floating World” (2017) were the
building blocks, “Omens” is the finished product and a staggering
summation of all that makes this powerhouse quartet so essential in 2020.
The
fearlessness with which they’ve approached this record is testament to their confidence
and maturity, gained from 15 years of honing their craft. Across five songs and
56 minutes Elder take the listener on a
sonically beautiful journey whilst lyrically – as ever – things are notably
darker. That light and shade pays off time and time again as “Omens”
envelopes you. Put on your headphones and wonder at the detail, which is at
times breath-taking.
Nick
DilSalvo is on record as saying the writing process for “Omens” was
long and tedious but rewarding. You honestly wouldn’t know. It all sounds so
natural, with the ebb and flow of their technically dense music made fully
accessible for the first time. “Omens” is by far the best-sounding
Elder album: every instrument
breathes and has its own clear space in the mix.
The
appeal of “Omens” is encapsulated in its title track, which opens
the record. It’s an 11-minute modern progressive psychedelic masterpiece featuring
chiming guitars and Michael Risberg’s keyboard flourishes and wooshes. It
brings to mind, wide open spaces, traveling and moving, forward motion. It is
both of the 1970s and of now. Much like Jack Donovan’s beloved Rush, “Omens”
is their Clockwork Angels to Lore’s Moving Pictures: an album that could only
have been made when you’ve paid your dues and really learned how to do things.
Donovan’s fingers still delightfully run up and down his fretboard. DiSalvo
still picks at his strings and creates delightfully original motifs. The dirt
under the fingernails of their stoner doom years has largely gone now, and
that’s not a bad thing at all based on the evidence presented here.
“In
Procession”
is stunning. It builds from a wah guitar entrance into a DiSalvo picked riff
over which an echo-drenched keyboard tinkles and chimes, before abruptly
opening up into a massive heavy passage which is pure “Lore”. The
second half of this 13-minute epic is where Elder really fly. It’s a majestic, serene, dynamic passage built
over a deft and light George Edert shuffle. It will cover you in goosebumps.
Elsewhere
“Embers” throws you right off guard, starting like The Tragically Hip with
its college rock vocals before morphing into a pure prog section full of time
changes and sweeping chords. Album
closer “One Light Retreating” is a better sounding “Reflections”:
the spirit of “Lore” meets jamming of “The Gold and Silver
sessions”. Yet whilst it pays back to those albums, it sounds
completely distinct from them.
Like
all the best albums, “Omens” rewards repeated listens. Once
familiar with its themes and structure you will find yourself focusing on the
intricacies which lie within its grooves, those magic moments which make the
record so interesting and special. Once it’s under your skin you’ll likely want
to immerse yourself in it for an extended period of time, coming back to it
time and again.
It’s
exciting that Elder are still exploring, still
diversifying, still developing their sound and style. The results of their
recent labours are masterful and electrifying. We might only be in April, but “Omens”
is an early candidate for album of the year.
“Omens” is available HERE
