Ooluu – Ophus (CD Album – Ooluu)
Genre/Influences: Industrial-metal.
Background/Info: First there was Oompalunatiks, which in 2013 got renamed into Ooluu. The band consists of Davindra, Asa, and Wychdoktor. They’re hailing from Ottawa and have this year released their 2nd album featuring 9 songs.
Content: Ooluu defines their music as ‘voodoo-metal’. The sound clearly reveals a solid industrial-metal element, which is logically driven by furious guitar outbursts. A similar furious touch can be heard in the vocals. But Ooluu is much more than this and supports their songs with tormented atmospheres. It together with impressive guitar playing creates a spooky element, which might be the explanation for the ‘voodoo-metal’ label.
Next to this solid basis, the work also reveals rock/new-wave elements and a few cuts, which are more into electronics. The 2nd part of the album is more electro-driven, the vocals becoming less enraged. The final cuts get us back into the darkest and more aggressive fields of “Ophus”.
+ + + : There’s a great power boost emerging from this work, which is characterized by noisy-industrial-like guitar parts and possessed vocal parts. I also like the dark and somewhat disturbing atmosphere hanging over the songs. A few more electro-driven cuts inject some diversity, but still reveal another fascinating side of Ooluu.
– – – : I regret the rather short duration time of a few cuts. “Ophus” features a quite specific sound, which is not exactly the most common- and accessible one.
Conclusion: Speaking for myself I enjoyed the ‘industrial’ approach of Ooluu; I’m definitely under the influence of their ‘voodoo-metal’ sound rite.
Best songs: “Porcelain”, “Polyvalence”, “Manichaeus”, “Gnosis”.
Rate: (7).
Band: www.ooluu.net / www.facebook.com/ooluuband
Support Side-Line
More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.
Why we ask
Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.
Handled by PayPal.
I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.
