Hi Everyone !

Routes to Nowhere had more reviews lately. On from ConcreteWeb:

"Routes To Nowhere isn’t an easy recording. Opening track Nebulous Nexus combines elements from Progressive, Heavy Metal and Thrash and comes with typical vocals. Cosmic Maze is a more ‘traditional’-oriented Heavy / Doom / Thrash-piece, with attention for melody and technical precision. Shifting Sight is an up-tempo Avantgarde / Power-track, and so is Inner Space, Outer Void, which sounds pretty ‘traditional’ too. Besides the band incorporates elements from different Rock genres, Funk and Epic Doom, making the whole even less ‘reachable’. Recommended to fans of both progressive and traditional Heavy / Thrash / Power Metal."

And the other one from  metalglory.de:

"The four tracks move stylistically somewhere between power and thrash metal, which was then refined with some prog elements. The fact that you can find very deeply thought and interesting songs on this demo, which even stand for themselves in some degree, speaks for the band. [...] A very good demo that makes us want to ear more from Omaïnen's house."

Apart from that, we've been recording drums with Rude last friday, in order to better think about the songs structures, the vocal lines, etc. We've done two songs, and I'm mixing it right now. It already sounds good to me (definitively not at studio quality level though). Songwriting process for the future album is in great shape, and with this new method, I'm sure we'll be able to better craft the songs. If these recordings turn out to be really good, maybe I'll post some excerpts, just for you to see what kind of mood we're in for the album.


Cheers!
David.

Hi everyone!

We had a new review on metal.de (in german) that has nice things to tell about us :

«Omaïnen know how to design an interesting song, also, the four musicians have sufficient technical skills to implement their creative ideas.»

«Overall, an EP one should keep in mind.»

You can google-translate it, it's readable. If someone really wants an english (or french) translation, just ask, I will do.

David.

A review from Avant-garde metal :


"A pretty straightforward avant-garde type of metal is performed by Omainen and it features some slight tips of the hat to other groups like Arcturus and even Psychotic Waltz. There’s a slight quirky vibe that takes over with some off the wall riffing bringing them into their own territories unkown though they have a feel of being thrown back to the classics of metal as well with some traditional sounds. This conglomeration of styles does pretty well to form a niche for the band who have quite a distinctive tone. The music isn’t the most exciting you’ll ever hear, but manages to raise a pulse within the listener through the crafting of some pretty imaginative patterns. I don’t think we’ve seen the full potential of this band through these four tracks alone, so I’m slightly more anxious to see what they’d do on an album of full length.

Still, the band manage to get the point across that they’re open to verging into some strange territories along with the straight up vibe they manage to throw at you so well. A standout track to be found is "Shifting Sight” which has just an interesting enough flavour to enrapture you in its web. The band manage to create just enough different auras to bring you into their mix as effectively as possible. Again, the rather short length of the disc stops the compelling thoughts they have from perhaps coming to their full focus and I’m really open to hearing what else the band would deliver if their adventurous sounds were allowed to breathe even slightly more.

Overall, this has enough style and good performing to keep one captivated, but I’d be excited to see them push their sound even further into avant-garde territories. Also, an upping of the amount of passion put into their sound might increase its quality even further."


link

Strutterzine from the netherlands reviewed "Routes to Nowhere" and gave 8 out of 10 :

"OMAINEN is a French band with a strong big Metalsound that sounds modern, but still sort of classic traditional, with some MAIDEN riffs, although 80s Bay Area Thrash Metal riffs are also all ovet the place. Happily, the band has a melodic clean lead singer and also the melodies of the songs itself are quite good, so in the end this band might be called a Melodic Thrashy Power Metalband that sounds a little like ICED EARTH, yet vocally reminds me somehow of SQUALER. Anyway, the result can be heard on this quality 4 tracks counting demo with as highlight the song “Cosmic maze”. I am quite sure this band could deliver an interesting full-length CD if they would go down into a studio with a major producer, because they definitely sound very impressive already on this demo."


link: scroll down to Omaïnen

We get a very good review in french webzine Metalland.

"Omainen has indeed a sense of catchy heavy riff stuck ideally between aggressive rhythm and melody."

link in french

The Thrash Metal Guide added a review of Routes to Nowhere :

"This French act plays heavy crushing power/thrash with doomy overtones and good mid-ranged clean vocals. They know how to speed up whenever they feel like it [...] This recording will surely arouse the fans' interest to track the full-length down; good hunting"


link : scroll down to Omaïnen

Our good friend QuickNick reviewed our demo and gave it a very good note (95/100) :

"French OMAINEN catch you with a brilliant mix of high expressed emotions, excellent musicianship + intelligent and permanent variations, through all four songs."

Despite his saying "Hey man, I don't write reviews to please someone", I think it's a bit overrated, but it's also very pleasant to get such nice words!

link1 : hardnheavy commonwealth
link2 : Thrash Never Dies