Week 11: Om - God Is Good (2009)

How did I find Om? Years ago, MTV's Headbanger's Ball returned to television on MTV's sister channel MTV2. By this time, MTV was not playing music anymore and MTV2 was where the music was at. There were two great revelations during that show. One was hearing Mastodon's "March Of The Fire Ants" for the first time. Second was hearing High On Fire's "Hung, Drawn And Quartered" for the first time. I began to follow High On Fire guitarist Matt Pike and eventually learned he was in a trio called Sleep in the '90s. The other two members of Sleep had resurfaced in the new century as Om: bass and drums only. I started last year with 2012's Advaitic Songs and have been working my way back through their catalog.

The side long "Thebes" opens 2009's God Is Good with a hypnotic tamboura (played by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe) and a brooding, meditative bass line from Al Cisneros, whose lyrics are influenced by all religions and convey a sense of journey, which I dig. The opening line is a great example: "Descends supine grace of the luminant." Percussion stealthily builds until Emil Amos hits the kit and the groove forces your head to bob slowly. About halfway through, a distorted bass pulse chimes and a more intense groove begins to roll like a tank.

"Meditation Is The Practice Of Death" begins with a sinister, driving bass line and drums. The instrumental chorus is a great release from the more urgent sounding verses. The track features a flute part near the end, which was a good color to add to the mix.

"Cremation Ghat I" is an upbeat, instrumental stomp and is my favorite song on the album. The bass line in this song is fantastic and there is a cool vocal siren halfway through.

"Cremation Ghat II" features a tamboura again and some hand percussion. Parts of this song sound like a mystical, sorrow laden coda to Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir."

Om create soundscapes that allow your mind to relax and sink into a trance. Stress and worries disappear and clear from my mind with these guys. I highly recommend you to try Om. I recommend "Cremation Ghat I" as a starting point for this album.

Keep listening and thank you for reading this.