OMNIUM GATHERUM is a band of many directions and styles, some of them clearly visible while others more unseen. Namely working and keeping it all together under the monicker of melodic life-and-death metal and bastardizing it by various influences from a whole lot of genres and sub-genres, OG produce complex but accessible death metal that incorporates elements of thrash and tradl metal without ever sounding derivate. Top quality Finnish steel, in other words. It has said also that if you mix At The Gates, Katatonia, Death and Judas Priest there's the recipe to OMNIUM GATHERUM stuff!
Thorsten Zahn, chief editor of METAL HAMMER GERMANY: "Nobody can deny that the metal scene is thriving and blooming. Fresh new bands carry the spirit and give new impulses to the genre - or at least leave their fingerprints. One of these young and hungry bands is called Omnium Gatherum. The Finnish six-piece creates complex yet accessible death metal with traditional influences and a massive dose of thrash metal. This puts Omnium Gatherum in line with Finnish high-class metal forgers.
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OMNIUM GATHERUM was brought to life in Kotka, Finland in Autumn 1996 by guitarist Markus Vanhala and ex-vocalist Olli Lappalainen. At that time they were influenced a lot from the northern death metal. After a year of hard training and songwriting OG recorded their first demo tape Forbidden Decay containing atmospheric melodic death metal, in the Spring of 1997. Two self-financed releases followed: the OG cd EP in 1998 and Gardens, Temples…this Hell! MCD in 1999. Especially Gardens... demo caused some positive stir in the metal underground, but no good record deals were offered.
It was not until the fourth demo "Wastrel", that was released in May 2001, and a vocalist change (Antti Filppu steps into the band) before the band signed a recording contract. The demo review in Terrorizer summed up nicley what was going on: "there is a sense of something special happening here. Technically the sextet have got it all worked out, but if I could apply the word 'beautiful' to metal songs then I would do so here because they are as complete as would be expected from any top class album."
In December 2001, a new and growing label Rage of Achilles from England offered a deal that sounded reasonable, and after signing it OG were sent straight to the Sonic Pump studios to Helsinki in late December to re-record the Wastrel demo, to be released as a debut MCD. The title was changed to Steal the Light so that no one would mistake it for the demo. Released in September 2002, despite the ageing songs, both the critics and the audience seemed to like it. Kerrang magazine even featured the band on their column “Top 21 new bands you should hear!” The musical atmosphere was light and the sound close to power metal, with half-crazy hysteria and despair balancing the scales.
In August 2002 Omnium Gatherum entered the Sonic Pump studios again to record their first full-length album Spirits and August Light. Released after a long, long wait in April 2003 through Rage Of Achilles and gave the band some well deserved attention within the underground metal community and the press. The album showed another side to the light: despite the clear melodies and the stable rhythm all along the way it had a lifelike taste of dirtiness to it, with desperate love and uninvited hate searching for an outlet, like something you didn't want to see happen but it did none the less. The reviews were unbelievable, considering that the band thought they had failed on the recording process. OG appeared in Kerrang! a few times, being the only Finnish band ever with a debut of 5/5, and all the major metal magazines followed in the same vein. Metal Hammer introduced the band to be "A new wave" of death metal:"Classically inclined operatic metal at its most snobbish. Lead breaks to make metal gods Judas Priest weep, and vocals that lift them out of any black metal pit. If Opeth are the Pink Floyd of this scene, then Omnium are likely to turn into Rush at the very least". The British were not the only friends, Germany agreed also (Rock hard gave 9,5/10 and hoped OG to become the next big thing from Finland). So far, so good... so what.
After the Spirits.. album, after the music video from Writhen, after recruiting the new keyboard player Jukka Perälä and after the successful Finnish tours the band was searching for something new. More technical, more progressive, more sophisticated but at the same time colder and moving away from the listener; the new recipe was completed with themes from the wasted youth, depression and soul-loss, shamanistic metaphors leading the twofold way back in time while the moon shone stranger than ever. It is always darkest right before the morning. The second album Years in Waste was under construction in June-July 2004, and during those studio sessions Rage of Achilles called it a day. Luckily, German label Nuclear Blast signed the band as soon as they heard the new album.
In November 2004 Years in Waste came into this world, surrounded by a dim and mythical climate. The response was more diversified than before, just like the music itself. Still, Years In Waste again got lots of words of praise in the media and the biggest American metal magazine BW&BK stated on their 8,5/10 review that “OG is one of the most underrated bands of Europe and everybody should check the band out!” Nuclear Blast also re-released the Spirits and August Light album filled with Steal the Light EP. All albums were also licensed worldwide. After the album release, the keyboard player Jukka Perälä parted ways with the band and Aapo Koivisto joined the crew. The band toured among others with Dismember after the release and played gigs at some big festivals, even in Germany and played gigs for example with Cannibal Corpse, Entombed, Children Of Bodom, Zyklon and Napalm Death. Also two music videos were made from the tracks The Fall Went Right Through Here and The Nolan´s Fati and they were released among else on the famous Monsters of Metal/Death DVD-compilations.
The year 2006 ended an era in Omnium Gatherum as problems started to arise; first the band parted ways with their label Nuclear Blast and after that the band parted ways with their long-time singer Antti Filppu due to musical / personal reasons.
Jukka Pelkonen, also known as J, from the band Elenium, joined the band at Spring 2006 and the band continued to compose a new material for the third album and search a new label home. OG played few gigs in Finland to test the new line-up that turned out to be the really best line-up so far. In September the band headed to make it´s first headliner tour in England and played the Bloodstock Festival in England. The tour was a success and after that Omnium Gatherum signed a new deal with English Candlelight Records label. The band have had a bad luck with record labels; third album – third label, also third vocalist, but as we in Finland say “third time says the TRUTH!
The third magnum opus of the band will be released at spring 2007 and Omnium Gatherum are going stronger than ever, 10 years after the creation of the band!
