3 keepers
keeper avg .300
Accepting the consensus that the Gore album (2016) was a bit of an outlier, Ohms seems to pick up where Koi No Yokan left off, but I could also go along with one reviewer's opinion that it's a return to the sound of the self-titled album (2003). Indeed, unlike the last several albums there are no floaty ballads here, just rockers. However, the brooding, drone-y opener "Genesis"**** is also surprisingly melodic and dramatic. "The Spell of Mathematics" is similar, with the addition of the emo group claps that lead out the end. Chino Moreno sings poppy, atmospheric melodies over Stephen Carpenter's aggressively chugging guitar rhythms in "Urantia" and "Radiant City" (and brings back the war whoops on the latter), and chant-y Duran Duran / Alice In Chains harmonies on "Ceremony" (the "it's an illusion" song).
The album really hits its stride on "This Link Is Dead"*****, an aural assault of Moreno's screams and layers of sometimes piercing guitars whose strange melodies add up to more than the sum of their parts. The anthemic closing title track**** starts with a forceful but melodic guitar riff that Moreno's vocal smartly counterpoints, and ends long before its welcome is worn. "Error" is the album's only real bummer, composed of mostly atonal guitars and weak melodies. Though Ohms does have fewer memorable tracks than several other albums, it still lives up to the band's high level of consistency the last decade.
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