(((((OPENmind/SATURATEDbrain))))): ORNAMENTS

Saturday 11 February 2017

ORNAMENTS

Band: ORNAMENTS

Genres: Punk / Post-Rock / Post-Hardcore / Post-Metal / Doom / Ambient / Sludge / Instru-metal
Related artists: Death Of Anna Karina and Dominance.
Country: ITALY
Years Active: 2003-present
Song: "Aer"
Album: "Pneumologic"
Year: 2013
For fans of: Tomydeepestego, Pelican, Russian Circles, Black Clouds, Omega Massif, Disappearer, Terraformer, Glasir, Shy, Low, Tusk, Goonies Never Say Die, 5ive, Town Portal, Quiet Lakes and Finger Of God.

Label(s): Self Released / Sangue Dischi / Escape From Today / Tannen Records / Blinde Proteus / Inri Torino
This post's artist is from the February 2017 Mix. This is track #10.

You can download: the February 2017 Mix#2 right here or get the new March 2017 Mix#3 here.

Back in the early 2000s The Death Of Anna Karina was a band that I was paying a lot of attention to, as I thoroughly enjoyed their abrasive and sassy screamy hardcore on '' It wasn't until I started this blog almost five years ago that a member of that band got in touch with me about his other, still active band, ORNAMENTS. After that I reviewed and interviewed The Death Of Anna Karina here. Sounding absolutely nothing like their previous outfit, ORNAMENTS play massive, sprawling, ambient and droney instru-metal. The songs are generally five to ten minutes in length, have no vocals and like most instru-metal bands, touch on post-rock, post-hardcore and post-metal.

In 2004 ORNAMENTS released their 'Demo' which houses four songs totaling a prodigious 36 minutes. These tracks are probably the lightest and most ambient by the band, but "4" sounds a heck of a lot like the first Pelican EP. And then...nothing for 7 years. The sophomore release was the bridge called 'EP' in 2011 and showed a better grasp of laying a uniform foundation and building on it using the blocks with the best fit, instead of choosing a block based on its individual attributes. Does that make sense? I guess I could just say they were more mature and patient. The excellent 'Pneumologic' LP followed in 2013 and houses seven songs, with the kicker "Aer" being used for a music video which is beautiful to watch. It should also be noted that at this point we are graced with vocals, as "L'ora del corpo spaccato" includes multiple vocalists in the first half of the song yellin'.

Upon writing this review I was graced with three new releases from the Italian instru-metal powerhouse. In 2015 they released a split 12" called 'Metamorphosplit' with Zeus! and it shows the sludier, darker progression that ended up on the 2016 material. The songs "Fractal" and "Perpetual Motion" are two of the band's best. And just last year ORNAMENTS went crazy releasing twice on Inri Torino and NOT posting those albums on the band's bandcamp page, thus eluding me until I started searching around. The first is a two-song EP titled 'Cymatic' that is pretty good, and includes a stellar opener featuring vocals from Lili Refrain that fit the music beautifully. This was a precursor to the very lengthy 8-track LP titled 'Drama'. This thing is a beast that includes some sludgy, crushing riffs as well as engaging, Russian Circles and Tomydeepestego-esque tranquil, ambient and melodic passages. "Oceano" and "Aeternal" bring on more vocals but again this release is almost purely instrumental. Be sure to check out the awesome song and video for "Promethus", the first embed below.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2004 - Demo EP (download here)

2011 - EP EP (stream/free download here)

2013 - Pneumologic 12"LP (stream/donate/download here)

2015 - Metamorphosplit 12"EP (split w/Zeus!) (stream/donate/download here)

2016 - Drama digitalLP (stream here)
2016 - Cymatic digitalEP (stream here)

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(2016) ORNAMENTS - "Prometheus" (from 'Drama') official music video