The Swedish duo Oh Hiroshima releases a new album.
Since 2007, the band formed by Jakob Hemström (guitar/vocals/bass) and Oskar Nilsson (drums) develops a sound anchored into their Post-Rock roots, illustrated in 2022 by Myriad, their new album recorded by Kristian Karlsson (pg.lost, Cult Of Luna).
The album begins with the haunting Nour, a very progressive composition which slowly shrouds us into its mesmerizing dissonance before drowning us under its majestic saturation. The very robotic vocals participate in this as appeasing as oppressive ambience, creating a mysterious veil which leaves us with Veil of Certainty, a composition with a very sweet and airy introduction. The hooking groove quickly join quietness, which turns out as a wonderful heady output, taking advantage of the thick rhythmic to place soaring harmonics which develop its heaviness before All Things Pass makes our mind travel. Effects on guitars feed the instrumental’s mystical aspect, but whispers also participate in this so special atmosphere, then the melancholy on Ascension appears with a catchy slowness. The riffs’ softness progressively intensifies while wearing those dissonant and soaring tones, while sometimes welcoming some vocal parts, but the song bursts into fire until the last second, where the last notes die to make place to Humane, a very dark song. Whether the introduction stays into softness, the song will be quickly strengthened until it created a hooking tornado of cold beauty, while Tundra reconnects with this weighing melancholy and blackness. Even when it explodes, the song is still very airy and haunting, nearly imperceptibly strengthening those soft tones, driving us to Hidden Chamber, the last composition. Shorter, quieter, but also more luminous, it also unveils some violins to walk with us to the last moments of this appeasing sound.
With its seizing intensity, Oh Hiroshima continues to fascinate us. Myriad knows how to amaze us, to make us sink into blackness or relax us, but above all the album knows how to develop a seizing progression and really airy riffs, creating an incredible ambience.
90/100
