Since the male Goth metal fraternity first popped its collective cork over Cristina Scabbia, there has been an explosion of female fronted Goth bands all eager to jump on the bandwagon. When Nightwish became the thing of the moment, all these new female Goth bands wandered firmly in the operatic direction, and we were drowning in a flood of uninspiring warbling bints. When I was given the task of reviewing Omega Lithium’s debut disc, ‘Dreams in Formaline’, my expectations were of another elaborate operatic warble fest, but I’m glad to say I was quite wrong. What we have here is very polished Goth metal with an industrial tinge, and a young band with a lot of potential.
The first thing that strikes you about this album is the production, which is aurally shiny, and suits the music perfectly. Opening track ‘Infest’ sounds like Lacuna Coil before their commercial pop aspirations took hold. Singer Mya Mortensen has a powerful voice and is complimented by the backing vocals of guitarist Malice Rime, who favours a very heavy chugging guitar sound, reminiscent of the Deathstars, which is used to great effect on ‘Stigmata’; the stand out track on here and one I’m quite sure we’ll all be hearing a lot more of soon. There is very real star quality in this track and if this doesn’t start getting heavy radio and television exposure soon, I shall eat my own feet. ‘My Haunted Self’ is straight out of the book of Evanescence, relying heavily on piano and symphonic accompaniment for the heavy guitar sound. Drummer Torsten Nihill keeps things interesting with some varied drumming, keeping you on your toes with some good fills and breakdowns.
The title track one of the weaker ones on here, sounding like it needs an injection of extra heaviness that although threatened, never seems to arrive. ‘Andromeda’ starts promisingly, but seems to descend into a disappointing Abba derived Europop anthem with added guitar. Things pick up again with ‘Nebula’ which is definitely one of the stronger tracks here, and really gives Mya a chance to stretch herself a little more vocally, with elements of Toyah Wilcox (minus the lisp) showing through. ‘Snow Red’ is a bit of a plodder, but technically very good, despite a grating annoying ‘plonky’ piano outro. ‘Hollow March’ is a real grower of a track, with an immensely catchy chorus and is probably one of the main songs on here that showcases their ‘own’ sound, along with ‘Factor: Misery’. ‘Angel’s Holocaust’ could easily be mistaken for a Lacuna Coil track however, largely due to the duelling vocals between Malice and Mya, sounding so much like their Italian counterparts that it’s uncanny. Final track ‘Point Blank’ opens with a driving guitar and pounding drum that gives the impression you are in for a relentless pounding finale, but it’s let down by a lazy, throwaway chorus.
Even a deaf person would have no trouble picking out the influences here, but I’ve always maintained that good imitation is a form of flattery, and Omega Lithium do the female fronted Gothic Metal thing very well indeed. For a debut album, it’s very strong and they have the image as well as the sound to become one of the breakout bands of the next 12 months. To cap it all off, the stunning Ms Mortensen will be adorning magazine covers and bedroom walls in no time at all. This could be the start of something big…
http://www.myspace.com/omegalithium
http://www.omegalithium.com
