OMINOS, Ominos (2011, demo)

The skull:
I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first moonskull in the Skullection. At least, I think they’re going for some kind of moon thing here, because if not that, what? Sometimes a skull is just a skull, but those white crescents have to be something, right? Is this just the reflected image of a skull gazing forlornly into a birdbath he installed in his backyard? He was so looking forward to watching black phoebes and western scrubjays frolic in the basin, but he hasn’t spotted a single bird out there yet. And his hummingbird feeder isn’t seeing any action either. He says to himself, “I thought birding would make me happy, for once…” before his thoughts dissolve to nothingness.

The music:
For some reason, I was expecting Greek style black metal, but instead this is garage-quality shithead thrash. It’s not really retro, but it’s hardly forward-looking, either. This is metal made by people with tiny music collections. Like, if the band members pooled their discs, they’d probably have most of the Metallica albums, two or three from Pantera, Burn My Eyes, Divine Intervention, and maybe something by Lamb of God. The playing is loose and messy, and the vocals are atrocious, but the main strike against Ominos is their plain inability to write songs or even single riffs worth hearing. I bet they could totally talk 20 of their friends into buying a ticket to the Devildriver show they’re playing, though. Ominos go on at 5:30pm.
— Friar Johnsen