One of the good things about running a review blog of my own is that nobody else gets to decide what I’m gonna write about. Dangerous situation. ’cause you’d expect me to just pick out my favourite albums, go all enthusiastic about them, and immoderately praise their unattainable excellency.
You’d also expect them not to stray the littlest bit from my favourite genre’s field. Or, when that happens, you’d expect my final judgement to be as harsh and merciless as possible.
Well, not completely true. That wouldn’t account for venturing into a genre, that is what OSI play, wabbling on the edge of two different said “fields”; nor for getting down to write about something as difficult to define as their latest album, Blood.
Let’s get it immediately straight: I like this album quite a lot. Excellency? I’d rather save that word for something which is also technically hard to achieve. OSI‘s music rather tends to minimalism, and that’s not for everyone nor for every moment. But if you don’t mind a kind of music that can relax you without giving up on rhythm, then Blood might just be a neat choice.
The two fields the album wavers between are progressive rock/metal and electronic (or should I say elctronically-oriented) music. That’s probably what you get when Dream Theater‘s first keyboard player (Kevin Moore) joins forces with Fates Warning‘s Jim Matheos (guitar) to create something “new” — compared to their previous experiences.
It’s been years now they’ve been out putting together this kind of music, and so far, so good. I’ve never been a fan either of electro-minimalistic stuff or the group itself, but to cut it short I heard the album at the right moment. Since then, it has pretty much stuck into my head — partly thanks to the repetitiveness and linearity of the songs (no high or low peaks, no exhausting solos, even a very relaxing singing), partly because of its ability to captivate you with its languid, calm background and pattering rhythms.
Blood manages to create sort of a web around the listener, cradling you and keeping you suspended in a trance-like state for most of the albums’ length. The album cover can somewhat be seen as a hint at the atmosphere the songs create. I’d describe it as a sort of peaceful coma, only occasionally interrupted by kind of a “strengthening” of the surrounding sound - False Start, Be the Hero and my personal favourite No Celebrations (to be found on the bonus disc) being fitting examples of that.
THUS SPAKE THE CENNSOR: You obviously have to be in the right mood to really appreciate this album, but who doesn’t at any given moment with (almost) any given album? However, Blood is well worth a chance, also considering how easily it won itself a steady spot in my playlists. See “relaxing”, “thoughtful”, “to be listened to while lying on bed and with a fair pair of headphones on” for reference. 8/10
