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OSI - Blood CD (album) cover

BLOOD

OSI

 

Experimental/Post Metal

3.74 | 235 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

arcane-beautiful
4 stars From Dream Theater to this?

To be honest I have a bit of a bone to pick wth Mr. Moore. In Dream Theater, his lustrous talent and sound was the perfect sound for Dream Theater, his lyrics were some of the best I have ever heard and also...he was a funny guy. But to this...

Being this is the opposite of Dream Theater (well in a way they are quite similar, but for this review I have decided to live in a world where there are no positives and negatives), it was hard for me to listen to this, and not compare it to Dream Theater, saying that Kevin is an ex member.

This is a great album, the songs are cathcy, the riffs kick ass, and you have Jim Mathoes on guitar (Fates Warning rule). This album does have quite an industrial feel to it, which I'm not the biggest fan off..but meh.

Mike Portnoy, who was kind enough to play on their first albums, has ran back to Dream Theater and wasn't able to appear, but what do you do when one of the best drummers in the world leaves....get one of the other best drummers in the world. Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson...he played with King Crimson, you have to be good to play in King Crimson) has filled in the slot (hehehehehe, I'm so childish)

If you haven't heard OSI before, they're basically No Man, but more upbeat and not suicidal. (Tim Bowness did provide vocals on one of the bonus tracks...but it's way too depressing.

1. The Escape Artist - Reminds me of Rammstein mixed with Leonard Cohen style vocals (Kevin Moore does have quite a boring voice). Kick ass way to start off an album. Cathcy and great electronics work.

2. Terminal - Very nice atmospheric trance intro that reminds me of No Quarter. A more laid back song with a Porcupine Tree vibe to it, and it's very catchy There is a longer version on the bonus disc, which surprisingly is better than the album version.

3. False Start - Very kick ass song. Cool break down section. Quite eccentric as well. If this song had a better vocalist, it would be a force to be reckoned with.

4. We Come Undone - Nice Massive Attack vibe to it. Quite interesting.

5. Radiologue - One of the best songs on the album. Electronics are used perfectly, very catchy and the acoustic guitar parts go well with the synth beats. Kevin's vocals are quite good too.

6. Be The Hero - Cool eerie intro. A bit tedious to be honest.

7. Microbust Alert - Eccentric.

8. Stockholm - Mikael Akerfeldt's lustrous tones do make this music seem better. This song is very reminiscent to something off of Beck's Sea Change.

9. Blood - There is a bit of an Enter Shikari vibe to this song. It's laidback and calm. Good way to end the album.

CONCLUSION: If this is your cup of tea, buy it. I'm not the biggest fan of Kevin's current direction, but it was very enjoyable.

arcane-beautiful | 4/5 |

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