Omnipotent

Cosmic Dream is a relatively new Gothic Metal band hailing from Germany, although all members seem to have roots in Indonesia. Their heritage is of great influence on the bands sound, seeing the concept of the band is a mix between Metal and Balinese traditional music. Quite an original starting point. The bands debut release “Omnipotent” was released independently a year after the bands formation.

The album starts with an instrumental keyboard intro which is a bit too electronic for my taste. Nothing about this track suggests you are listening to a metal record. Luckily this is corrected at the start of the first real track, with the introduction of the guitar. The keyboard remains pretty prominent throughout the release though. In fact, I would even dare to state that the keyboard is the most prominent instrument on this release. This is not a bad thing per se. I can surely enjoy a keyboard laden release from time to time. But I have a hard time with Omnipotent I’m afraid. Their keyboard melodies are somewhat of a strange breed, ranging on being a-melodic and at times even sounding like a sort of House music beat. Furthermore, I unfortunately do not hear that much influence of Indonesian traditional music I’m afraid. I must admit I’m not knowledgeable at all regarding traditional music from this part of the world. But I’m sure it does not involve a keyboard.

Worth mentioning though is that all instruments are played by Sapta, and that he does so very competently.

Omnipotent boasts three types of vocal delivery. Sapta, the mastermind of the band, is responsible for the rougher type of vocals featured on the album. One would expect Death growls, seeing he is the vocalist for a Death Metal band called Eternal Madness, but his style would better be described as rough singing and some spoken passages. Ingrid and Evelyn both contribute the female vocals. According to the band information Ingrid is responsible for the Angelic sound, while Evelyn plays the part of the “evil” twin so to speak. I don’t really hear that much difference in singing style though. Both sing in a melodic tone of voice. The main difference seems to be the pitch in which they deliver their lines.

Both the production and the appearance of the release are excellent. The cd is released as a classy looking digi-pack with a professional booklet and stylish artwork. Pretty awesome for an independent debut release.

All in all I find it very difficult to classify Cosmic Dream’s music. I would rather call it a mix between Electronic, Avant-garde and Gothic Metal. In theory this sounds like something I might like. But I’m afraid I don’t. This is more a matter of taste though, because the band consists of competent musicians, they just don’t play a style of music I really enjoy.