OM - Conference of The Birds
< author: hsd >
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OM Confernece of the Birds Label: Holy Mountain Release Date: 04/17/06 |
Om is Al Cisneros (Bass Vocals) and Chris Haikus
(Drums) of the Doom band Sleep. Just a year after
their Debut Album “Variations on a Theme, They have
come back with their second album Conference of Birds,
which like their first is on Holy Mountain Records
(Lichens, Six Organs of Admittance etc).
I know if you’re like me, you’re hoping for something
with a little more weight than Matt Pike’s High on
Fire. And while not a carbon copy of their former
band, Om do keep more of the aesthetics that made
Sleep greater, than High on Fire. Like Sleep, Om play
meditative mellow stoner rock. Although, rock probably
isn’t the right word here, because Om, plod across at
slow walking place, placing emphasis on repetition. I
would say drone, but I don’t want every Sunn 0)))
hater to stop reading, thinking this is an hour of a
guitar tuned to Ab feedbacking. There is defiantly
melody and movement on this record, and even drums!
The best I could describe them is, slow fuzzy bass
lines, over sparse tribal like drumming. With vocals
that are a calm, almost monotonous drone following the
bass melody usually pretty closely, which adds to the
overall hypnotic feel of the album. Like Sleep, Om
finds a groove and stay in it for as long as the want,
both songs topping 15 minutes.
Where they differ form Sleep and many of their other
doom peers is in the overall tone of the album.
Usually stoner and doom conjure up images of
dirty-long Haired dudes playing through vintage Orange
Amps, to their semi-coherent fans, Om conjures up more
images of temples of monks, slowing and meticulously
carrying out ancient rituals.
And for those of you who got bored with the last
album, Om mixes things up on this album. Where with
“Variations On A Theme”, all four tracks followed the
same formula. “Conference of the Birds”, braches out
on the first of two songs, At Giza. The bass is clean,
vocals sounding even more so like a chant than usual,
and the whole song taps into a much older sound,
coming off like 60’s garage psych band at there most
experimental (or stoned).
Not groundbreaking, but a very good Album to listen to
while inbetween states on consciousness.