Published: February 1, 2021

OMINATION is a funeral doom/death metal band from Tunisia, Africa. "NGR" is their third full length album. They also have a demo and an EP. This is my first OMINATION album and I must say they have gained a fan for life. It has nine tracks (ten counting the Skepticism cover) and is almost an hour and a half long—if most albums are meat and potatoes then "NGR" is a three full course meals fit for a king. There is a lot of content here and time must be sacrificed for it but for those with patience, the rewards are many. Could it had been trimmed down somewhat? Maybe. But there is so much to like here that complaints seem pointless.

One of elements that stands out the most to me about this album are the vocals.  As much as I love it, I will admit that most doom of this type isn't exactly known for vocal variety.  But "NGA" begs to differ by offering death growls, a variety of cleans and chants/opera style voices and spoken word. It is impressive and one of the many reasons why this album doesn't get old despite its length. Musically, it has plenty of dark, depressive and melancholic aspects that doom is well known for. However, this canvas of  void can be rather colorful.  The keyboards are Gothic and cathedral but go a long way in adding more and more to the overall sound.

The pacing of the album is near perfect. The longer tracks are balanced by "shorter" ones to help displace any monotony. Although not a fast band by any means, they do have moments of rage filled speed and they never are as plodding as many bands of this style. Although not eccentric or spastic by any means, the music here is also very theatrical. "Crossing the Burned Wasteland," begins the album and acts like a long intro.  It lays down the apocalyptic vibe well and serves as a very exciting song that builds up momentum and anticipation.

"Apocalyptic Ignis Fatuus," has a funeral sound to it, like a procession going straight to hell. A furious growl pierces the veil and the song explodes. Heavy guitars blanket the song with a musical ton of riffs. The death growls forward march while the drums pick up the song and fling into different tempos and territories. Around the 3:30 mark, keyboards expand the song outward with rotting hands grasping to tear life.

"Necropolis, the Backbone," has keys that linger freely in the space between the notes like specters refusing to move onward. The power vocals help sell the idea that this is the end—and I believe it because this song is chilling. The keys and clean vocals together have this maddening sound like some insane circus. The later half of the song takes a more direct approach focusing on heavy, grinding riffs and growls to get the point across.

"Post-Apocalypticism," begins life as some sort of ritualistic chant that had a raw, tribal feel to it. The song adds more layers as it goes along and soon develops into a large wall of sound.  It is a massive thing, its weight crushing down upon it all. The church-like chants and strained, screamed clean vocals add an arcane twist to the song and it comes off as some ancient evil. The final track is the epic and engrossing "The New Golgotha Repvbliq," which was released as a single way back in February 2019. It finds its placement on the actual album well defined and I can't think of a better way to end such a long album than with this 20 minute long doom monstrosity.

The song gets started right away with melodic riffs and hard hitting snare and a special sort of heaviness. The meat of the is slow and stalking, like the everlasting onslaught of time and death. The drumming goes and way in bridging the songs parts together and keeping it alive. The middle part is crazy but slow riffs and rising lead guitar that swirl among the clean chants and death screams.

The last minutes of the song have the band speeding up for a last minute battering ram but it ends in sweeping keys that brings the album to a close. OMINATION's "NGR" is a diverse, unique doom metal album that is a pleasure to listen to for its entire run time. There isn’t any album or any band in doom that sounds like this.