Kohnerah – Ominous Ubiquitous
Release Date: 13th January 2023
Label: Self-Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Deicide, Morbid Angel, Kirisun.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Kohnerah is set to release their debut album, Ominous Ubiquitous on February 13th 2023, a bludgeoning, heavy and unforgiving blend of brutal death metal and old school influence which ought to appeal to fans of Deicide and Morbid Angel. While the formation of the band in 2016 and its first LP release in 2023 have spanned the better part of seven years, the album doesn’t disappoint, as it ought to appeal heavily to those who love a mean, nasty, and grinding death metal album that turns the speed up to 11.
Immediately, there is a heavy mix of low and high guitar, which tends to show that Kohnerah isn’t trying, necessarily, to be limited by one subgenre. I appreciate the fact that there are restrained leads as well as the intense rhythmic chugging that pays homage to the gods of American-style death metal. The overall sound is evolved and genuinely developed to be consistent across the album, something that gives Kohnerah its own holistic identity. This is something which so many bands are missing these recent years, as many bands will release an LP or EP which purports to be a “mixtape” of sounds between 4 or 5 big death metal bands with stylistic uniqueness.
I think that one of the main things which makes this album so brutal is the absolute speed of each track. There are brief moments of slow, melodic interludes (if that’s an accurate way to describe them) followed by thrashing and clanging blast beats at 240 beats per minute (or more). There is a well-formed absolute din of brutality that simply pervades every single track of the albums entire run time. There are a few moments where the harmonizing guitar and bass create long, blistering interludes that remind me of some of the same from bands like Entombed, who couldn’t help but write a 6-minute track laden with heavy refrains and thematic breakdowns.
My favorite track from the album is Plucked From the Sky, the penultimate track, which features a glorious duel between bass and lead guitar in dissonant harmony before going into wretched and fiery high-pitched howls and screams by vocalist Stephen Babcock. The whole production is just great, as the explosions of the vocals after the instrumental sections is extremely satisfying, perhaps thanks to competent production and mixing/mastering, something music fans should never overlook, as it can create an entire “voice” for the artist to use as part of the overall sound. Kohnerah uses a modern, polished mastering that allows the nuances of the instrumentation, the variations in technique to be heard and enjoyed.
(3 / 5)
