Becoming a household name in heavy metal is not easy nowadays. Typically an artist gets stuck within their subgenre and is only popular to those who regularly listen to that subgenre. Usually to get your name out there beyond your subgenre you need a record that epitomizes everything fantastic about it and ventures into other subgenres in the process. That’s exactly what Elder did with their 2017 record Reflections of a Floating World. Glorious stoner metal met progressive rock and heavy psych for a near-masterpiece of neverending riffs. Metal fans like myself immediately gravitated towards it for its bombastic energy combined with psychedelic moments. One can make the comparison that Elder has a more refined and tasteful modern Mastodon sound to them in which many wished to hear.

Since Reflections of a Floating World, Elder decided to experiment on their 2019 EP The Gold & Silver Sessions. It unveiled a side to Elder that focused heavily on psychedelic arrangements and production. Although enjoyable it did falter at times at the hands of simplicity and meandering which is common for heavy psych. This sound transfers over with their well-established style onto their newest record Omens. The result is as expected – great at points and other times tiring and boring. Beginning with the title track, “Omens”, we get one of the more consistent tracks though. The production on it is really clean – as is the rest of the record – for its clean separation of percussive pacing and soaring melodic guitar work. Starting off with simpler hard-hitting riffs accented by extra-terrestrial sounding synths, the track subsides into peaceful segments of echoing acoustics, sultrous bells, and smooth basslines throughout the first half. Announcing the second half are orchestral strings that lightly flutter over the massive drum build-ups before exploding into an onslaught on solo and riffs that bounce between Iron Maiden and Deep Purple stylistically.

What made a record like Reflections of a Floating World along with others from Elder like Dead Roots Stirring so great were how multi-faceted the tracks were. Most of their songs average around monstrous ten minute lengths which demanded for constantly changing arrangements to retain listener attention. Omens is no exception to the song lengths, but doesn’t have as many excellent ideas crammed into their songs even on the title track which lessens my interest. This problem can be blamed on the psychedelic passages that tend to meander and even come off as self-indulgent at times, but not entirely. When they work well, they provide more dynamic songs like with this the first half of “In Procession”. The second half unfortunately represents the other side of this coin with its unchanging instrumentation with the exception of the synths that fall flat with nothing to offer but a cheap attempt at tinkering with extra instrumentation.

Following “In Procession” is “Halcyon” which suffers from the same issue of meandering at the beginning making for ten minutes of uninspired continued listening excluding the last two minutes of “In Procession” which just rehashed its middle segment. Once “Halcyon” kicks into full gear it still feels undercooked, but the few brooding climaxes driven by accelerated drum work and epic melodies are still great in their own right along with the mellotron fusing itself into the melodic atmospheres. After it is “Embers” which is able to match Elder’s past works with its constantly changing arrangements. Not many of the riffs stand close with their past records’ creativity and stickiness that gets locked in your brain, but they are still good in the fact that none overstay their welcome. Plus Nick DiSalvo’s vocals are at their most expressive and substantive compared to the rest the record where they’re fine but don’t reach with the swells anywhere near as well as we know him able to.

Closing out Omens is “One Light Retreating” which fumbles into the same pitfalls as the rest of the record. Arrangements are engaging at first, but loses power overtime by the lack of diversity. I will say the climax in the middle is spectacularly eased into with rolling snares and fluttering synths. Also the subsiding bassline that transitions into the back half is fantastic. Unfortunately that isn’t enough to make it a great song especially with the meandering droning accompanied by minor cymbal flourishes and trippy guitar notes. That’s my main problem with this record. Unlike their past work where they were able to make every second of their 10+ minute track lengths count, Omens’s stronger moments are surrounded with filler. I wasn’t expecting Elder to release another Reflections of a Floating World by any means, and I respect their move forward into more psychedelic arrangements. I just wish there were more compelling compositions to split up the monotony to transform Omens from just a good record to a great one.

Best Tracks: “Omens”; “Embers”

Worst Track: “Halcyon”

Rating: 6/10

Released: 04/24/2020

Label: Armageddon Label

Genres: Heavy Psych, Stoner Metal/Rock, Psychedelic Rock, Progressive Metal, Doom Metal

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RATING SCALE

Perfect Excellent Great Very Good Good Meh Disappointing Bad Horrible Pitiful Bottom of the Barrel