The end of July is the time where the festival period in Denmark is slowly coming to an end, and life is returning to the venues. The first show after summer break I had a chance to see was stoner-drone metal trio ‘Om’ – the band of Al Cisneros from the legendary group ‘Sleep’, paid a visit in Pumpehuset on the late Wednesday evening.
The show started quite late for the mid-week event, as the opening act entered the stage at almost 10PM. The Bug—a British DJ who was opening the show—played an extremely loud set, mixing industrial electronic sounds with dub and reggae in complete darkness of the venue, with the single red light breaking this darkness from time to time. The bass was so loud that I could see a beer jumping in its cup standing on the floor, and all was accompanied by a rhythmic bouncing of the crowd.
The main act of the evening started at 11PM sharp. The stage was lit by a single blue light, ready for Om— as well as the fans who filled the club. Emil Amos, the band’s drummer, was first to enter the stage. Soon enough, the entire band was filling the room with an ominous bass rumble, with Al pulling the strings of his Rickenbacker. The slow, heavy music fest had started. The music giving a heavy rendition of Tibetian chants filled the club and ears of the listeners. First with ‘Gethsemane’ and few other tracks from their ‘Advaitic Songs’ album, followed by ‘Cremation Ghat’ from ‘God Is Good’ and other older sounds. This amazing performance lasted for almost an hour and a half— the show was finished long after midnight and fans slowly filed out of the venue.
Om’s minimalistic performance in almost complete darkness provided what was expected by the fans. Maybe music created by Om is not as heavy as Sleep, maybe the show is not super spectacular, but Al Cisneros and his colleagues proved that Om is one of the most interesting names on stoner metal stage.
Editor: Stephanie Regan
Coverage: Kasper Pasinski
