Omen (Antestor album)

Omen
Studio album by Antestor
Released	November 16, 2012 (2012-11-16)
Recorded	June 2010-September 2012; "Isolation Studio", Norway; Teleborg Castle, Växjö, Sweden
Genre	Extreme metal, unblack metal
Length	51:03
Label	Bombworks
Producer	Antestor
Antestor chronology
The Forsaken (2005) Omen (2012)

Omen is the fourth studio album by the Norwegian Christian extreme metal band Antestor, released by Bombworks Records on November 16, 2012. Recording for the album began in 2010, and was mostly conducted at the home of vocalist Ronny Hansen. The album cover depicts a painting by Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński. Antestor met with critical praise for its musicianship and the progressive sound found on the recording. Critics described the sound as primarily black metal, though the band prefers the more general term "extreme metal" to describe the sound on Omen. In support of the album, the band went on tour in Brazil in January 2013, but encountered difficulties - One venue was cancelled due to a banking error; another was stormed by violent protestors antagonistic to the Christian beliefs of the band members, and police had to usher the band to safety. However, despite these setbacks, Antestor considered the tour a success, and wished no ill will on its attackers. On February 18, 2013, a music video was released for the song "Unchained".

Background

Lars Stokstad, sole remaining founding member of Antestor, seen here in 2011 at Elements of Rock, Uster, Switzerland.

Antestor was in 1990 by Lars Stokstad, Kjetil Molnes, Øyvind Hope and Erling Jørgensen, under the name Crush Evil. After recording two demos and undergoing some significant lineup changes, in 1993 the band renamed itself as Antestor.^[1] Shunned by the Norwegian black metal scene due to the band members' staunch Christian faith, Antestor struggled with successfully retaining a record deal. Its first album, Martyrium, was recorded in 1994 and had a few bootleg copies illegally distributed,^[2] but did not see legitimate release until 2000. Antestor's second album, The Return of the Black Death, was released in 1998 through Cacophonous Records, but the band claims that it never received royalties for that album.^[1] In 2004 and 2005, respectively, the band released, under Endtime Productions, the EP Det tapte liv and the studio album The Forsaken, both of which featured session drum work by the prolific heavy metal drummer Jan Axel Blomberg, also known as Hellhammer,^[3] who has played in strongly anti-Christian bands such as Mayhem and Immortal.Despite a positive reception to the album, after 2007 Antestor consisted only of Stokstad and vocalist Ronny Hansen, and the band went into hiatus.^[4]

However, in 2010 several new members for the band were found: Thor Georg Buer on bass, Jo Henning Børven on drums, Robert Bordevik on guitar, and Nickolas Main Henriksen on keyboard.^[5] Rehearsal sessions began in June that year, and Antestor performed at Nordic Fest in Oslo on October 28 through October 30.^[6][7] On November 4, Antestor announced that it had signed a record deal with Bombworks Records.^[8]

Recording

The album was recorded at entirely at Hansen's home in Norway, except for drums.^[4] In an interview with HM, Antestor explained that it had trouble finding a studio that it liked, as well as trouble finding times when all the members were available to record. Since Buer and Børven had the necessary equipment to record, the band decided that it would take on recording itself.^[9] Of Buer the band stated that "he really took the brunt of the workload and singlehandedly made it possible for us to record the album ourselves."^[9] Recording began during the year of 2010, and Antestor uploaded a video clip from its recording sessions on September 4 of that year.^[10] During the recording process, bassist Thor Georg Buer left Antestor in May 2011 due to commitments to his other band, Grave Declaration, and Erik Normann Aanonsen was recruited as his replacement.^[11] A few months later, Buer rejoined, this time on guitar, to replace Robert Bordevik, who had left the band temporarily.^[12] On June 23, the Christian music website Indie Vision Music noted a video uploaded by Antestor that contained footage of the band recording music.^[13] The recording process was completed on July 31, 2012.^[14] On August 25, Buer announced that he was again leaving Antestor, this time due to upcoming college studies.^[15] In September, the mixing and mastering for Omen at Teleborg Castle in Växjö, Sweden was completed.^[16]

Release and promotion

Omen was released on November 16, 2012. In promotion of the album, a music video for the song "Unchained" was released on February 18, 2013.^[17] Directed by Alexandre Spiacci, it was the first music video from the band.^[18]

Style and lyrics

The album features a strong black metal sound, though still retains the thrash metal, doom metal, and folk music influences of previous releases by the band. On Omen, Antestor took a more brutal and experimental approach with the album. Most of the vocals on the album are screamed and growled, but the song "Unchained" includes a passage with sung vocals, which Andy Synn of No Clean Signing described as having a "strong Pink Floyd feel to them".^[19] Synn considered the album as a mixture of the aggressive assault of Dark Funeral with the more technical and atmospheric playing of Dark Fortress.^[19] Scott Waters, writing for HM, described the album as "progressive, post-black/extreme metal that paints a dark, sullen landscape with lyrics that offer hope."^[20] Victimer, editor-in-chief for the Czech webzine Echoes, described Omen as black metal with influences from thrash metal.^[21] Antestor itself does not consider the album black metal, preferring instead the term "extreme metal". It explained to HM that

Black metal is dead. The progressive development has stalled and has lost its edge in the genre. We don’t consider ourselves black metal, but extreme metal. Other people feel that they have a claim on the name and concept of black metal, and we don’t want to keep ourselves within any box or confines. We just want to write the music we like.

—Antestor, Antestor: Taking Care of Unfinished Business^[20]

"Treacherous Domain" contains slow, doom-inspired riffing,^[19][22][23] while “In Solitude,” “The Kindling,” and “Benighted” feature a more progressive, technical style of black metal.^[23] "Tilflukt" is a short folk instrumental which segues into the double-bass drumming of "Benighted".^[20][22][23] Synn described "Remnants" as developing "a harsh, angular pounding rhythm that would sit well on any Gorgoroth album"; "Tilflukt" as similar to the output of Windir, and "Mørket’s Grøde" as containing echoes of early Satyricon.^[19]

Apart from the final track, "Mørket’s Grøde", and the instrumental "Tilflukt", all song lyrics are written in English. On the lyrical themes, the band explained that "at the same time that we are Christians, we are also humans. I think almost everyone can relate to parts of our music and lyrics, for absolutely everyone – Christians and non-believers alike – experience hard and terrible times. The Lord does not say we will not meet hard times as Christians, but that He will be with us and carry us through it, and that is a big part of the Antestor message."^[9]

Cover artwork

The album features a painting by Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński.^[19] The band explained that it decided on this picture because "Our music represents the more broken and monster-like feelings of our humanity, like the apparition in this picture. It seemed a very fitting cover for our return after seven years of silence."^[9]

Touring

Ronny Hansen of Antestor at Blast of Eternity, Neckarsulm, Germany, 2012

Antestor played at numerous concerts both during and after the recording of Omen. On March 5, 2011, the band performed at Elements of Rock in Uster, Switzerland.^[24] Though this performance was plagued by very poor sound, the band still considered it a success.^[25] On March 12, Antestor played a free concert for the store Nordic Mission at Subscene in Oslo.^[26] On June 5–10, it performed at Skjærgårds Festivalen 2011.^[27] In 2012, the band performed at Brainstorm Festival in the Netherlands on November 3 and at Blast of Eternity in Neckarsulm, Germany, on November 10.^[28][29] On January 30, 2013, after Antestor's completion of its Brazilian tour, it announced that its keyboardist, Nickolas Main Henriksen, had left the group due to health reasons, but that no replacement would be recruited.^[30] On June 15, 2013, the band performed in Pieksämäki, Finland.^[31]

Brazilian tour

In January 2013, Antestor embarked on a tour of Brazil to promote the album. Seven venues were scheduled - Jundiaí, São Paulo, Curitiba, Belém, Vitória, Belo Horizonte, and Rio de Janeiro.^[32] However, the show at Belém was cancelled due to a banking error which led to the band's plane ticket being revoked.^[33]

While Antestor was playing at Belo Horizonte, the venue was mobbed by Satanist black metal fans who protested against the band members' Christian beliefs. The band had received over three hundred threats, including death threats, since its announcement of the tour in October 2012.^[34][35][36] At Belo Horizonte, approximately one hundred protestors gathered outside the venue, holding up banners, shouting "fuck Antestor!", and threatening kill both the band members and concert attendees.^[34] About thirty guards stood outside the venue, but the situation escalated and the protestors tried to storm the building.^[36] Brodevik, the guitarist, reported that he and his fellow band members were kicked, beaten, and spat upon by protestors.^[36] As the protestors tried to tear down the door, the band waited for police to arrive, and then were escorted outside by two officers who were armed and wearing bulletproof vests.^[34] The minibus waiting outside the back door had had its tires punctured, so the band was instead escorted out the main entrance.^[34][36] The police fired warning shots and formed a defensive ring, allowing the band to escape in a waiting taxi.^[34][36]

After the incident, Brodevik described his and the other band member's situation as "trapped like rats."^[34][36] While he said that the band is used to hatred from the extreme metal community toward the Bible and Christianity, nothing like this had ever happened to the band before.^[34][36] Aanonsen, the bassist and a father of three, explained that while he understood that the tour could have ended in death for him and the other band members, when violence finally broke out a Belo Horizonte he remained completely, unexpectedly calm.^[35] In retrospect he remarked that while it scared him, the concert in Belo Horizonte was the best he has ever experienced, as all attendees "defied so much" to get to it.^[37] He also noted that because of the attack, the band is now "twice as big" in Brazil as it had been before the incident.^[35] In a summary of the concert posted on Facebook, Antestor stated that

We could write in details about all the drama that happened after the show. But not on this page. We do not hate the angry mob who came to hurt us. In fact, our message in our shows is to love your enemy. So God bless everybody who stood outside chanting: Fuck Antestor! Hope we can talk like reasonable people someday over a fresh squeezed juice. Extra special hails to our fans who had the balls to come although they knew it could be dangerous. Antestor salutes you and be blessed.

—Antestor, Antestor - Timeline Photo

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Cross Rhythms	[22]
Echoes	75%[21]
Musick Magazine	6.5/10[38]
Untombed	[23]

Omen met with a warm reception from critics. In particular, they highlighted the drumming on the album, remarking Børven proved able to match the skill and intensity of Jan Axel Blomberg.^[19][23] Steven Ecott of Cross Rhythms rated the album nine out of ten squares, praising the drumming, guitar work, and harsh vocals. He concluded that "'Omen' is a breath of fresh air in the rather stale and stuffy room that black metal finds itself resting."^[22] Scott Waters of HM praised the album, writing that "the musicianship is beyond reproach. To simply play that fast and accurate, even for four-minute spurts, requires more than just talent. It requires skill and endurance. Much of the music on Omen display that skill and endurance and definitely accomplishes what it set out to do."^[20] Victimer, of Echoes, scored Omen at seventy-five percent and extolled Antestor's expansive, unorthodox approach.^[21] Andy Synn of No Clean Singing lavished the band with praise in a lengthy, track-by-track review, concluding that "It’s clear that Antestor have poured their all into this record, physically and emotionally, learning from their past successes and failures, in order to craft an album of impressive depth and detail, with a volcanic core of molten metal passion."^[19]

Eric Strother of the website Untombed gave the album four-and-a-half out of five stars, stating that "this band is as strong as ever. Omen is highly recommended not only to (un)black metal fans, but also to anyone with a tolerance for extreme vocals who is a fan of well-crafted, creative metal."^[23] However, Strother did note that he personally felt that the bass guitar was buried in the mix, and that this detracted from an otherwise near-perfect album.^[23] Zuza Steck of the Polish magazine Musick Magazine gave the album a mixed review. They rated the album six-point-five out of ten, opining that the album is sure to satisfy the seven year wait after Antestor's last release and that the skills in recording the album should not be underestimated.^[38] They noted, however, that the guitar solos were not that impressive, and at times sounded as though they were forced, recorded only because the band felt obligated to do so.^[38]

Track listing

Lineup

• Lars Stokstad - guitar, vocals
• Thor Georg Buer - bass, guitar
• Erik Normann Aanonsen - bass, acoustic instruments
• Nickolas Main Henriksen - keyboard
• Robert Bordevik - guitar, vocals
• Jo Henning Børven - drums
• Ronny Hansen - vocals

References