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: : FREE : :
OSI is a project group consisting of Jim Matheos
(Fates Warning) and Kevin Moore (Dream Theater, Chroma Key) plus various
guest artists. On this release, Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater) and Joey
Vera (Fates Warning) are the lucky guest musicians.
OSI has been and
to some extent is haunted by the ghost of Pink Floyd. In a world where
everybody and their mother needs a point of reference, Floyd has been
the reference point for OSI's relatively unique approach to the art of
music. I beg to differ. This is an album with a modern sound, a unique
but not groundbreaking type of music that in it's totality doesn't have
any reference points at all.
Synth, keyboards
and samples are the keywords to describe this record. Layers upon layers
of electronic sounds, that fills out the soundscapes of the songs,
creates nuances and subtle moods as well as walls of sound and tension.
Matheos uses acoustic and electric guitar to fill out the soundscapes
even more, and is at the most effective when playing the acoustic
guitar, giving life and warmth to songs that would have been a bit cold
sounding without that input.
Kevin Moore's vocals are an important asset to this release. He isn't a
good vocalist when it comes to singing voice or range, but utilizes his
talk-like singing effectively, binding together 11 quite different
sounding songs. He also more or less purposefully signals a feeling of
"I have seen everything and nothing surprises me anymore" through his
singing, adding quite a lot of emotion to the songs due to that.
Mike Portnoy's input is good, as always. He delivers driving rhythms
when appropriate, and has a more laid back approach when necesarry. A
good performance, as expected.
As for the songs themselves, tracks 1-10 are all good or very good, the
only filler on the album being track 11 "Our Town", with it's
country-like sound.
"Sure You Will" kicks off the album, a fast-paced driving song with
industrial and techno-like overtones.
"Free" is a guitar-driven song, with a riff that has a strong 70's feel
to it; a riff that would have fitted perfectly on any of Ted Nugents
late 70's releases.
"Go" is a more mellow affair, with synth and acoustic guitar, and
fragmented drum samples creating tension in the rhythm department.
"All Gone Now" is
a darker synth driven tune, with a cold and distanced feel to it; and a
sound best described as futuristic.
"Home was good"
starts out vulnerable and fragile sounding, and then builds itself into
another dark tune with a massive wall of synths dominating the
soundscape, building up a high tension that never is actually released
"Bigger Wave" is a song driven onwards by acoustic guitars and drums,
where the synth mainly is used to fill out the soundscape, and where a
more metal-inspired guitar riff is added halfway through the song.
"Kicking" is driven onwards by a guitar-picking like riff, with the bass
guitar and drums adding to the drive of the guitar, all the while
sounding more futuristic than retro.
"Better" is a darker tune again, with synth and a metal guitar riff as
standout features.
"Simple Life" is driven onwards by drums and synth, with a bit of a
jazz-influenced sound to Portnoy's drumming.
"Once" has a nice guitar picking line that comes and goes throughout the
song. as well as a more straight metal guitar riff hidden away in the
background of the soundscape for most of the song.
"Our Town" is the only purely acoustic sounding track on the album,
ending the album with a country & western inspired feel.
All in all, this is a strong release from OSI, and an album I'll
probably play frequently for the coming years. The sound is
contemporary, but with a timeless feel to it overall. Somehow, I doubt
that this music will ever sound old-fashioned, my opinion is that this
release is one of the very few albums that in later years will be given
the description timeless.
A fun fact for me personally, was that a few of the tracks, most
noticeably "Bigger wave", contains elements that could have been copied
out of the soundtrack from obscure computer game "Chaos Overlords" from
1996. Someone should send OSI that soundtrack, as I guess the
similarities would have given them a good laugh.
Rating: 9 (out of 10)
Reviewer: Olav Björnsen
: : Visit the Artist’s Website : :
: : Discography : :
Free - 2006
Office of Strategic Influence - 2003 |
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