There are few acts that attempt to fuse Sludge with Doom and Progressive Metal and even fewer that successfully pulls it off. Houston’s Omotai shows great promise on their sophomore album Fresh Hell.
At first listen, one will initially draw comparisons of Fresh Hell to Mastodon’s 2002 debut album Remission. “We Don’t Have To Be Strangers,” for example, could be considered a textbook Mastodon track with its slow and odd signature changes.
Thankfully, Omotai breaks away from these comparisons with tracks such as “Giant Pygmy,” which contains a Hardcore Punk bass opening and the more traditional extreme heavy metal sound on “Throats Of Snakes.”
Although it seems as if the band took more risks with 2012’s debut Terrestrial Grief in terms of sound, they don’t seem to be playing it safe with Fresh Hell either. Omotai continues to evolve as in the future they have the potential to become one of metal’s most bewitching acts.
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