Thursday, April 24, 2025

Garudas Mission - Omen in Onyx (2004)

 
Cost: $2.00

Progressive metal, with the heavier tracks showing off more power metal influences. Metal Archives specifically mentions them as having "dark ambient influences"--while I can see where this comes from, I think emphasizing it in their genre category is a bit misleading. The atmospheric keyboard work in the background is certainly more reminiscent of ambient music than in other prog. metal bands, although had I never seen dark ambient mentioned, I would likely have just described them as having slight tinges of gothic metal in their atmosphere.

Not my favorite kind of thing, but generally solid stuff, with two minor exceptions. The (thankfully) seldom-used extreme vocals (in "Solitude" and "Machine," specifically) are overly forced and screamy, sounding like they should be in a -core band. There are also a few places with more modern, chuggier/groovier riffs ("Spellbound" and "Poisons"), although again, they're used so sparingly, it's more surprising when they show up than actually annoying.

Speaking of surprising, the final track starts out very mellow, but then halfway through, some playful, retro-futuristic keyboards and chimes suddenly come in. It immediately brought to mind the music from some of those old '80s and '90s VHS tapes showcasing computer animation. Not really my thing either, but it made the track very unique.

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