ORO: Opus Alter

Album review

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away -- well, some six months earlier anyway, at, errrr -- a record store not too far from here, UFOmammut unveiled ORO: Opus Primum -- the first of two CDs necessary to contain a massive, hour-and-a-half-long "song" (conveniently spliced into ten smaller sections) that is hereby completed by ORO: Opus Alter. Clearly, the venerable Italian space/sludge outfit really challenged themselves with this most audacious project, and by and large, they delivered the goods on its impressive first half; but it's easy to understand why Neurot Recordings decided to hold back the release of ORO's second half long enough to spare the already deficient, 21st century's attention spans from having to absorb it all in one sitting. After all, this is one big-ass pill to swallow! And yet, discount the general masses not attuned to UFOmammut's unique but long-established formula, and their dedicated followers shan't have to expend too many of their remaining neurons grasping the full enormity of the band's accomplishment, even though this second sibling falls just short of its elder twin overall. While initial Opus Alter movements "Oroborus" and "Luxon" successfully induce audio-tropic hypnosis in no time, they still feel like intermediary drones intended to awaken the sleepers from hyperspace; and it's not until the dark matter echoes and Motorik-like guitar staccatos of "Sulphurdew" accelerate blood flow (amid ambiguous alien chants and roars) that Opus Alter produces its first undeniable stunner. The simply named "Sublime" then gently prods the listener back toward a lunar sea of tranquility before unleashing the turbulent space madness concealed just beneath its surface (it works, but UFOmammut's done it many times before), leaving it up to closing cut "Deityrant," with its teeth-jarring magnetic fields, tempestuous shockwaves, and muffled cries for help, to provide a fittingly cyclopean, journey-capping catharsis (which it does). In light of all this, one can confidently say that UFOmammut's cinematic-scale achievement places ORO pretty near the apex of the band's celebrated history, and if the prequel actually topped the sequel for once, so what? What's important is knowing that no Ewoks were harmed in the making of this "picture."

© Eduardo Rivadavia /TiVo