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Origin > Omnipresent > Reviews
Origin - Omnipresent

Trashipresent - 25%

Petrus_Steele, May 28th, 2019
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Agonia Records (Digipak)

The unpredictable excellence of Entity was succeeded (not!) by Omnipresent, featuring more instrumental/interlude tracks and hardcore/thrash-like incorporation, as well as the new lead vocalist Jason Keyser, brother of bassist Joe Keyser. You may recognize the two from Skinless, previously sharing the stage together and at the studio recording Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead - considered one of the best brutal death metal records. Even the drummer was once in Skinless when he left Origin. So it was only logical to include Jason in the band. This marks a new era, as Paul assumes full control of the guitars without an extra set of hands from another player, as the rest are doing their respective jobs. Lyrically speaking, it sounds like they’re writing about specific life/death situations alongside their space-related themes (or I’m just seeing that now?).

Let’s get to the filler before covering the songs themselves. On the filler side of things, Permanence strongly focuses on its guitar melodies, backed up by the other instruments. Nothing too savvy. It’s one minute of wanky guitar nonsense, while the second track is much worse - not even sure why I liked it in the first place… It may sound “prettier”, showing off a reverb-effected guitar melody, followed by shattering keyboards. At least the last track from the three has keyboard instrumentation in the beginning, sounding like something you’d hear from Blade Runner. Progressing into technical death metal that sounds rather standard instead of standing out to as memorable and unique.

The first song features a drummer (whom I can only assume is friends with the band) on vocals, and I honestly can’t tell the difference between his voice to Jason’s. The song presents strong technical elements, yet sounded typical and recycled. I don’t know what Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex means, but that’s one impressive title for a song. Otherwise, short and serves as/like a filler. Then you have the hardcore stuff, like Source of Icon O (wouldn’t really call it a death metal song). It’s too catchy, too hardcore AND too short. Redistribution of Filth might sound good drums-wise but also hardcore-ish and mediocre. Unattainable Zero, from start to finish, might just be the most boring song on the record, if not in the band’s entire discography. To top this pile of shit off, The Indiscriminate goes for being a catchy song, not to mention later trying to sound dissonant. But it’s stretched out and repeated in bad faith.

Despite being modern, designed well and even (arguably) mature, a lot of songs could have potential, but they lacked because of predictability and offering nothing new to the table. The hardcore songs were unnecessary and damn short, the instrumentals sucked and most of the record was just an awful disappointment. I don’t see any accomplishments, except for my own in finding it worse when I thought otherwise. These are the songs worth checking from this garbage: Manifest Desolate hits it on the spot! Obviously brutal, has a Death-like play-through after the amazing breakdown, and it’s plentiful to enjoy. The Kill Yourself cover from Stromtroopers of Death was a nice crossover thrash song incorporated into death metal. I had my doubts, but unlike the original songs on here, this one surpassed.

Origin on a whole new level! - 80%

DeathWitch83, September 21st, 2018
Written based on this version: 2014, CD, Nuclear Blast

After listening to Origin's release of Unparalleled Universe (2017), I was inspired to go back to Origin's 6th full length studio album, Omnipresent. In my opinion, it has a huge impact on the evolution of Origin and what they are today and I am proud to have this album in my collection! Grant it is not like their older stuff by any means; In fact it is quite different from the Origin we all know and love, but I must admit, Omnipresent grew on me. The more I listen to it, the more I have come to appreciate it. If you sit down and listen to all aspects of the music and read the lyrics, it is quite a masterpiece!

This is the first album that Jason Keyser (ex-Skinless, ex-Mucopus), vocalist, has had a part in writing and I must say I am very impressed. He uses a broad, clever, range of vocabulary for the lyrics and the transmittal of the message is executed with perfection. Though his lyrics and themes are very intellectual and intruiging, most listeners may not understand it (time to get the dictionary out and read some books), but that's what I like about his style. Jason brings the brutality with his powerful vocals ranging high to low and being able to rip your face off with those never-ending lyrical compositions. He is simply a genius!

You still have Paul tearin' it up with those magical fingers on guitar with his signature sweeps, meticulous technical solos, and raging riffs along with his high destructive vocals that will make you wanna scream yourself! I do wish he would have made those short instrumental guitar interludes apart of the lyrical songs. (Example: Permanence could have been an intro to Manifest Desolate, or used as an outro for Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex, etc.) But I have learned to appreciate the instrumentals overtime; It gives the album more of an atmospheric tone, especially with the synths; It makes you feel like you're the person on the cover of this album, floating into an evil vortex in the middle of a universe somewhere in space, ready to be decimated! And, it reminds everyone that Paul is still the reigning bad ass he's always been (and the only original Origin member still remaining).

You can still expect John to deliver blast beats of brutality and the perfection of pounding he always performs. I love what he's doing in Redistribution of Filth and The Absurdity of What I Am; With vigorous intros and powerful tempos throughout the songs, I find myself begging for more. Is it just me, or does John just keep getting even more perfect every time I hear him play? Every song on this album is played of most excellence by him. Whether it's slow, fast, or mid, he is on top of it!

Mike, as usual, is exceptionally fast and yet keeps it heavy and precise with each song. It blows my mind how he's playing along with Paul on some of those riffs (Example: Unattainable Zero..so fuckin' sick!!!) One would wonder how someone could move their fingers that fast on such a monstrous piece of equipment! Pure raw talent from Mike on bass!

So with that said, Omnipresent has a slower, heavier, grindier, darker, ambient vibe. When I say slower, I mean slower for Origin. It is still high paced and energetic, but mid-tempo and does tend to slow down at times with a heavy pounce, showing the bands' capability of what a breakdown should be. But it is not the constant fast IN YOUR FACE pace that we are used to Origin providing for us. You can expect this especially from Unattainable Zero, Malthusian Collapse (my favorite), and The Indiscriminate. Don't get me wrong, it packs a punch you won't recover from. I believe Omnipresent was more well thought out and very well executed in all aspects as well as production (even though the drums and vocals can be overpowering at times). This is also the first time they included a cover song as a bonus track, Kill Yourself, by Stormtroopers of Death. I believe this album would be more appreciated if it was not compared to their earlier stuff. This album is on a whole new level!

Origin's identity crisis - 74%

Mailman__, March 18th, 2018

Origin is one of my favorite bands (my second favorite, to be exact) and, I'm just going to be honest about their 2014 release "Omnipresent" for a second: it's not my favorite.

When Origin releases an album, I feel like it's a pretty big deal in the underground metal world and the "above" ground metal worlds alike.  In 2014, this album dropped under Nuclear Blast and Agonia records, Origin's second release under NB.  It hit the masses and it was pretty much a dud.

Origin had and still has a lot to their name ever since they released 2008's "Antithesis," and expectations were high ever since 2011's "Entity" failed to deliver as much as "Antithesis" did, mostly due to lack of band members.  So here comes "Omnipresent" with ex-Skinless vocalist Jason Keyser.

To wrap up this whole album in a paragraph, "Omnipresent" fails to deliver in almost every way that Origin was able to deliver in previous releases.  If you listen to Origin, you're not looking for music that's emotional or simplistic or easy on the mind.  No, you want something fast and brutal beyond all measure.  This is the most noticeable failure of "Omnipresent," because not only does it fail to express the old Origin sound of face-ripping brutality, but it also emphasizes the deathgrind portion of their music.  It's pretty much a cacophony of genres.  Track one, "All Things Dead" introduces this album as a typical Origin album, fast and relentless, but the following track, "Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex," is a chuggy slam metal song that honestly ruins any flow built up by the first track.  Then there's the deathgrind which can be seen in literally any track, but is most prominent in "The Absurdity of what I Am" and "Source of Icon O."  Then there's the completely random d-beat styled thrash song "Redistribution of Filth" that can be tied to the bonus track, that being a cover of S.O.D.'s "Kill Yourself."

Along with the genre confusion, another problem with this album is the bonus track that I previously mentioned and blamed for the monstrosity that is "Redistribution of Filth."  I hope that this doesn't become a thing for Origin because they did the same thing with their latest 2017 release, "Unparalleled Universe."  That is, slapping a shitty cover at the end of their album.  I have said it many times before, and I fear that I'll have to say it many times again: do not put cover songs at the end of your album (unless you're Hideous Divinity and actually know what you're doing).  Origin usually has a solid outro already.  For example, "The Indiscriminate" was obviously set up as an ending track.  And "Unequivocal" (from "Unparalleled Universe") was a clear flashback to "Antithesis," one of my favorite ending tracks ever.  But both of these tracks are smothered out by shitty covers.  The final impression on an album should not be someone else's work.  NEWSFLASH: It should be your own.

Throughout the album, I get traces of the old Origin sound.  Especially in the first track, which is your typical Origin song: sweep picking galore, quirky tremolo riffs, and catchy rhythms.  Then there are the last two tracks, "Malthusian Collapse" and "The Indiscriminate."  Both of these tracks have those quirky sounds you might hear in your typical Origin song, but they seem so terribly forced in these tracks that they become annoying.

This is not to say that "Omnipresent" is completely unenjoyable, because it's not.  I like this album, but I like every other Origin album more.  When I'm in the mood for Origin, I don't go to this album.  It may be a mess, but it's not terrible.

Long story short, "Omnipresent" is an identity crisis.  That's all.  There are good qualities within the music, but, if I'm going to be listening to Origin, this is not what I want to hear.

Overall Rating: 74%

Originally written for themetalvoid.wordpress.com

Flashes of good can't hide the slabs of mediocrity - 50%

MikeyC, December 23rd, 2014

I always knew it was going to be nigh on impossible for Origin to surpass their greatest work of Antithesis - an album I put among the absolute greats of brutal death metal, death metal, and metal in general. Nothing about that album felt forced, phoned in, or mediocre in any way. Along came Entity, in similar style but not quite as good as they had. I liked most of the tracks there, and still spin it regularly. I was hoping that after Entity, Origin would see where they went wrong and come out and pound my skull in with more technical goodness. Omnipresent is released and I was quite excited to hear how they have progressed.

Perhaps I had set the bar too high, because I wanted to really like this. The cover art is probably their best of their career, and I guess I hoped the music would be akin to the effort they expended there. Unfortunately, the large bulk of the tracks here don’t particularly stand out, diving into your ear and coming out the other side with no trace it had ever been there. While it’s not exactly a massive deviation from what they’ve done before, this time around the songs are far less memorable.

Musically, the band are as proficient, tight, and technical as they’ve ever been. Longstreth blasts and kicks away like a madman, guitars noodle and chug all over the place, and bass guitar is as crazy as it’s ever been. I guess all the musical experience in the world doesn’t mean the songs will stick out. I will mention that they’ve introduced slower paces every now and again, such as “Manifest Desolate” and “Unattainable Zero” – and I mean slow for Origin speeds, which is still a pinch above mid-paced. In a normal world, that would help Origin, but when compared to Antithesis and the relentless speed it had, it’s why I listen to Origin. I suppose the various instrumentals here, providing breaks between the actual tracks, don’t help. They disrupt the flow, with “Continuum” being the worst offender of the lot with its synth work behind random guitar noodling. If they eliminated these, it probably would’ve been better.

Vocals from new guy Jason Keyser are by a good margin the weakest element here. Not that they’re bad, because he has a good set of lungs on him, but it makes the album far less Origin-like, and heading towards the swarm of death metal albums taking up the middle section of a normal distribution. Perhaps I will one day become accustomed to his style here, but his vocals are too regular, and are too saturated throughout the album.

Where Entity fell a little short was its shorter tracks (pun intended). They felt incomplete and could’ve benefitted with a longer span of ideas. Here, the opposite occurs. The shorter tracks feel like they get to the point a little better, so songs like “Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex” and “Absurdity of What I Am” zip along and I tend to enjoy those slightly more. So the longer tracks here like “All Things Dead,” “Manifest Desolate,” and “Unattainable Zero” tend to be far blander and don’t offer enough to warrant them being as long as they are. To try and combat this, “Redistribution of Filth” come along with its d-beat inspired drumming and riffing, but the ironic thing is that this is certainly not a song Origin is known for, even if it does stick out like a sore thumb.

The two tracks together of “Malthusian Collapse” and especially “The Indiscriminate” provide some semblance of Origin getting it together, but having them placed at the back end of the album is a complete disservice, especially when the medicore cover track pops up to spoil the great mood the outro section of “The Indiscriminate” created with the guitar’s high notes and cool blasting section. So with those two, plus “Thrall:Fulcrum:Apex” and “The Absurdity of What I Am” being the best of the bunch, that’s not half the album, even taking out the fillers and the cover song. The rest are not good enough to really stand out, despite the obvious time it took to compose them, and the level of musicianship on offer. Omnipresent stands as Origin’s standard of mediocrity, and hopefully one that won’t be repeated on subsequent offerings.

Omnipresent - 75%

diogoferreira, September 8th, 2014

Around since 1997, the north-American band Origin began their career with a demo back in 1998, but since 2000, when they released the debut “Origin”, they have granted us only with full-lengths every three years. With an acclaimed discography, “Omnipresent” is Origin’s sixth album. The album also marks the recording debut of vocalist Jason Keyser (ex-Skinless).

During the first moments of this new record with the song “All Things Dead”, the listener may have the feeling that’s listening to a thunderous blending between death and black metal so characteristic in Behemoth’s sound, but as the album grows up all doubts are vanished and it’s clear we are before a technical death metal record. With the “Manifest Desolate” track it’s delivered a catchy syncopation passage and because of Paul Ryan’s steady and balanced wrist playing the guitar the song evolves into a war marching soundscape – something that’s not predicted and which gives the song a progressive shape. Besides the full-bodied songs, “Omnipresent” also features some instrumental tracks that last a little more than sixty seconds giving us pure technical and melodic moments using the guitar’s acute notes so usual in this kind of metal genre. However, this album doesn’t live only by technique spasms, because the “Source Of Icon O” song changes the palette of sounds and a grindcore universe is injected into the record.

Talking about the musician’s performance, John Longstreth deserves some credit here because he’s a team player – he knows when some crazy drumming skills are needed and when he have to play simpler in the background so the other instruments have their own spotlight. Probably helped by the production department, the drumming pedals are prominently heard when the music asks for it complementing what I mentioned earlier. Mike Flores’ bass guitar is also a piece that has its own deserved appearance in the “Unattainable Zero” track where it accompanies the guitar in cool shredding.

And when we think that’s nothing left to show, the last track “The Indiscriminate” closes the album in a mad way with heavy explosions alternating between speeding and breaking like a racing car all the way forward and down to the end of “Omnipresent”.

Originally written at www.ghostcultmag.com