Album: Ohmme – Fantasize Your Ghost review

by Tobias Moore

Snarling, fearsome and full of bite, with new album Fantasize Your Ghost, Ohmme have birthed a collection of music that – from the get-go – erupts with hellish command.

Dystopian, the album is a boiling pot of anger and confusion. From the houndish guitar howls of Flood Your Gut, to the percussive onslaught of Selling Candy, the record is instantaneously volatile. With a thirst for confrontation, its vicious snares hurtle out of control – its scuffles of broken noise break out throughout. The album will not be silenced. And its voice will be felt.

Animalistic, at points, the instrumentation leaves you looking over your shoulder. The bass of Selling Candy is emblematic of this. Dogged and predatory, it prowls the undergrowth of the song; a bully lurking in the soundwaves.

As you thud through the LP, it can be hard to bracket the piece into one definitive genre. Hypnotic basslines and samples circulate the piece, meaning it can be easy to be led down a path of psychedelia, yet a torrent of dissonance soon puts an end to this. However, what remains clear is that regardless of its genre, this album is much needed.

On Spell It Out, an ambiance of Asian influence seeps into the track. Courteous yet challenging, it is at this point that the album truly changes form. What started as an aggressive musical conquest is now something far more sinister. Through scratching orchestral interjections and grimaced vocals, the album turns inherently ominous. At points, what starts as an album, feels more fitting as a Jordan Peele soundtrack.

As the album soars, as does the tension. A purring vengeance lays dormant throughout Twitch. A metamorphosis of timbre, the track is poetic in its portrayal of confusion. As the vocals continue to loop around the piece, you must be careful not to fall. Produced with an unflinching sense of shade, the vocals feel characteristically cult-like. Softly spoken, yet sung like a siren, they encapsulate you with fear and morbid curiosity.

While Some Kind Of Calm does exactly that, offering a form of safe haven from the album, this momentary respite is soon snatched away. Descending into a circus of disintegration, freeform piece, Sturgeon Man, breaks down musical conventions that have previously been implanted. Through cutting and sporadic noise, an unbearable sense of anxiety is born.

However, remain calm. Should you survive Sturgeon Man, final track, After All, is unsettlingly warm. A polar opposite to the entirety of the album, it’s almost romantic in tone. Tender, the ease of pace offered by the track is fitting of a 70’s ballad. Despite being seemingly so out of place, there could not be a more fitting finale for the album.

Chaotic, ruthless, and almost militant at times, Fantasize Your Ghost is definitely not one for the faint-hearted. Yet make it through this ghost train of an album… and live to tell the tale, then you will have witnessed an album of immense spirit.

Secret Meeting score: 79

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