Omega Factor

How much does 'heaviness' matter in death metal? I’m not sure. Take an album like Hellwitch's "Syzygial Miscreancy" for example. It isn’t ‘heavy’ in the classic sense but it has plenty of wild, cartoon-ish aggression to compensate. Killing Addiction’s album ("Omega Factor") would be at the opposite end of the death metal spectrum. This album is heavier than a truck; ridiculously low, de-tuned, and guttural in every sense of the word. This is a record that can compete with the likes of “Into the Grave” and “Iniquitous” for sheer density. If you’re after some unadulterated heaviness then Killing Addiction may be the death metal band for you.

Except they probably won’t be, because this album offers nothing beyond heaviness. “Omega Factor” lacks direction or momentum. It feels more like an over-sized amorphous blob, stuck to the floor, unable to move. The only emotion it evokes from the listener is likely to be annoyance (or ennui). There is no ferocity or athleticism here. Albums like this are fodder for people who deny the artistic merits of death metal. One of the remarkable things about the golden age of death metal is how few outright 'bad' albums there were. There were many average records, but the average was quite high. The genre was so potent that lesser bands tended to release listenable records. "Omega Factor" is one of the ‘bad’ death metal albums from the period.

Don't be fooled by the cool Nocturnus-esque logo and cover-art. This album is light-years away from the exuberance of a record like "The Key". Being from Florida, you might assume that Killing Addiction had learnt some tricks from the numerous legendary local death metal bands that came before them. This did not happen. If anything, their music has more in common with European death metal. There are similarities with the ultra-heavy sound of Abhorrence, Grave, Demigod and Bolt Thrower ("Realm of Chaos"-era). Similar American bands tended to hail from the Midwest rather than Florida; the ragged, obscurity of Cianide, Accidental Suicide and the aforementioned Rottrevore.

Fatal flaws condemn "Omega Factor" to the death metal scrapheap. There is no song-craft, no hooks. The music has no innate momentum. Bands like Abhorrence and Demigod generated a feeling of inevitability by ushering their heaviness towards us. Killing Addiction lack the skill to do this. Their songs just 'happen'. This album works best as background listening because it doesn’t withstand close scrutiny. The musicianship is below average by the death metal standards of the time. The drummer does some convincing double-kick but flounders with anything more subtle. The transitions are clunky and clumsy. A song like "Dehumanized" is derailed by the messiness of the playing, while "Necrosphere'' sees the band falling out of time on occasion. Amateurish musicianship can sound great in death metal, but Killing Addiction display the wrong king of amateurish musicianship. The playing is featureless, without the charm and energy of bands that reach beyond their capabilities.

There is little point in listening past the first, and best, song. The one offers some half-decent basal death metal thrills. It isn't particularly good, and you will probably tire of it before it finishes. All the other songs are derivations of this one-dimensional theme. The lack of any vocal variation doesn't help matters. The production is lethargic enough to render the monstrous heaviness obsolete. There are no good reasons to listen to this album on its own merit. There are so many superior (and similarly obscure) death metal albums from this period. Listen to this record if you want some insight into what made “Abhorrence”, "Realm of Chaos" or “Into the Grave” so satisfying. Hint: it was never all about the heaviness.

Finally, this devastating release gets a proper reissue! Killing Addiction’s “Omega Factor” has stood the test of time while garnering respect and reverence in the underground for the past 25 years. Originally released on the Turbo/JL America label in 1993, this was some of the heaviest metal to be released at that time. However, this release never got the notoriety that it should have, but I hold firm in my opinion that it was a label issue and no fault of the band. With the release of this album, the band proved that they could share the stage with many bigger bands within the death metal genre. That’s not to say they sound like this band or that band but, while they did have influences, they had their own unique sound. With that being said, the band embodied what it meant to be true, underground, straight from the soul death metal!

For instance the riffs which are reminiscent of early Morbid Angel with elements of early Autopsy and Napalm Death. They are extremely powerful with a nice “gritty” sound that really digs in deep with a tormenting tone. These riffs are some of the most torturous and demented of the early 90’s. Now add the traditional death metal style of drumming, and the stage is set for what comes next. That would be what makes this album stand out and makes the band unique. A lot of bands go for high production which is fine, but Killing Addiction have such a raw sense of brutality on this album. The production isn’t really all that thick, but the raw presentation hits you just as hard. As the album progresses, you can feel it more and more. The band has definitely taken a different approach here. They not only want you to hear the agony within this masterpiece, they want you to feel it too. Most bands, during this time, used their lyrics to get the most agonistic of points across, and, while the band does use this tactic, the high point of this album is the talent an sound mind enough to not do what every other band in the early 90’s was doing.

There is no doubt that this is a maddening piece of death metal in the highest degree, but I urge all listeners, new and old alike, to listen to this release intently and let its raw viciousness soak in. Don’t just listen to what makes this album different, but feel it. From the first note to the last. Most of all, feel the nostalgia all over again with this amazing reissue put out by Xtreem Music. It not only has the “Omega Factor” album, but it also has the “Necrosphere” 7” from 1991 and the “Legacies of Terror” demo from 1990. This reissue is an excellent top of the line type that this album and the band deserves. Even if you own the original, it would be well worth your time and money to get the reissue as well.

Killing Addiction‘s thirty year legacy began concurrently within deathly sonic catacombs similar to bands like Incantation and Morpheus yet their thrash influences and heady atmospheric sound was entirely their own. Their ‘Necrosphere’ EP from 1991 remains underrated as an unexpectedly brutal hammer from the early Florida death metal scene. It’s atmospherics are unrivaled in this era beyond maybe Timeghoul‘s insane set of demos years later. As impressive as it was, none of ‘Necrosphere’ fully hinted at the raw technical skill and guttural brutality of their full-length debut ‘Omega Factor’. Twenty five years later the album has finally been reissued and cleaned up beyond the muddy and hard to find JL America release.

Killing Addiction/Xtreem have done ‘Omega Factor’ a great service with this reissue’s packaging and sound. Not only has the artwork been cleaned up, zoomed out, and re-scanned but they’ve had original album artist Nick Curri create additional artwork for the inner sleeve/booklet layout that echoes the original perfectly. I can’t really speak to whether or not ‘Omega Factor’ itself has been remastered, it generally sounds like a brighter transfer than you can find on streaming services, though. Thankfully they haven’t touched up the ‘Necrosphere’ EP or the 1990 ‘Legacies of Terror’ demo so the hissing tape noise and analog crackling is all in tact. As documentation of the band’s first 5 years, this reissue of ‘Omega Factor’ is given utmost respect.

‘Omega Factor’ itself is underrated among old school death metal elitists and tape-strokers alike. It’s representation of a secondary wave of increasingly brutal Florida death metal rarely inspires fairweather historians but you could directly trace this thrashing, atmospheric brutal death metal album as minor lineage towards groups like Sadistic Torment and Horror of Horrors that would go on to bigger things. Fans of old school death metal and modern technical/brutal death metal alike should be able to warm up to the quick-witted songwriting of the Bailey brothers and thrash influenced riffing throughout.

Arrangements like “Equating the Trinity” jet between technical thrash, ‘Human’ level riffing, and pit-riffs a la early Internal Bleeding so smoothly it is a shame that much of this work would remain unappreciated. My favorite track is easily “Dehumanized” for it’s almost Carcass-like structure and pure intensity throughout. Also a must-listen is the more standard ‘Harmony Corruption’ style “Nothing Remains” partially because it reminds me of underrated Illinois death metal band Morgue on their ‘Eroded Thoughts’ album. There is a lot to dig into here and the only reason not to is maybe the guttural vocals, but I like that old school brutal death metal touch here. They could have used more tracks to up the atmospherics as in ‘Necrosphere’ EP but it’s a small nitpick.

Also if you’re a demo nerd like me and you haven’t heard ‘Legacies of Terror’ it starts out rough but don’t miss out on their brilliant thrasher “Well of Souls” and the grinding horror of “Condemned” both of which were never reworked for other releases as far as I can tell. Killing Addiction‘s ‘Omega Factor’ might not be tailored for the old school death metal beginner, yet it’s charming roughness is an easily acquired taste. If you’re a longtime fan of this stuff it is an essential side-quest for 90’s USDM collectors and enthusiasts.

Attribution: http://grizzlybutts.com/2018/03/09/killing-addiction-omega-factor-reissue-2018-review/

I don’t remember when I have heard about Killing Addiction for the first time. Certainly I wasn’t familiar with this band in the 90’s, when the band was still around, releasing their demos and debut LP. I think it was only around the mid 00’s, when this name popped up somewhere and I thought it would be cool to collect the only album, which Killing Addiction did back in the 90’s, which was “Omega Factor”, released in 1993 by JL America (the same label, which released the stuff of Nocturnel, Malicious Onslaught, Morpheus Descends, Deteriorate, Excruciating Pain – so nice, collectable roster, even if they were mainly more mediocre death metal bands). And so I did. I didn’t pay much for it, which was a bargain, as my copy is just in mint condition and more so, nowadays, when there’s the hype for this sort of old school death metal releases and the first, original copies (I don’t think that “Omega Factor” was ever re-released… not yet, at least) goes even for over 50 euros. So yeah, I did get the album, but you know what? I think I already wrote that in another review, but not everything what is death metal and was recorded in the glorious early 90’s must instantly be a killer and cult recording. There are many examples for that… and I am afraid that “Omega Factor” is just one of them. I remember that I didn’t really enjoy thier music so much, when I bought the CD and yesterday I’ve played it again, after few years, and I was just right… I still don’t like what this band has done on this record. It is unoriginal, it is unpassionate, it is just terribly boring and unremarkable death metal. This is sort of death metal, which you listen to and think “oh, this is one of the reasons why the people got fed up with this music so quickly in the mid 90’s… because every crappy band got their album released, even though the music wasn’t even half as good as it should be!”

OK., “Omega Factor” is not the most terrible death metal record, which I have heard. I actually like few things on it. For instance I really like the production of this album – it is heavy, brutal, with really awesome guitar tone and great drums’ sound. The overall production is quite raw, but fits perfectly to death metal, in my opinion. Then “Omega Factor” has some quite fine songs like the title song and “Nothing Remains”… there are some riffs, which I like and stylistically if you dig the American death metal similar to bands like Baphomet, Suffocation, Morpheus Descends, etc. then you know the game well… it is chunky, brutal death metal, mainly based on slower or mid paced tempos, but with some occasional faster parts of sheer brutality. But the songwriting in most of the songs on “Omega Factor” is just very mediocre. Mostly the albums lacks of really memorable moments and truly killer, powerful riffs. More so, I feel totally bored by the vocals. Sorry to say, but what Pat Bailey did on this record must be one of the most unimaginative and dull death metal growls and arrangements, which I have heard in my life. Not only the sound of the growl of this guy is dull and sounds mainly like a pointless barking, without any idea and real arrangements, but he basically sounds completely lifeless and the same through the whole album. These vocals are I think the main reason why I just don’t like “Omega Factor”.

If you will put everything together – boring, annoying vocals and mediocre riffs – then at some point of listening to “Omega Factor” you can feel like you’re not even able to distinguish one song from another, nothing really stays in your mind and personally I felt not only bored by this music, but also totally annoyed. I love death metal records played with passion, enthusiasm, which erupt with pure brutal energy and also have great songwriting, killer memorable riffs and ideas… “Omega Factor” hasn’t really got anything of these elements. Few decent riffs or a couple of better songs is not enough. I much more prefer such LPs as “Dead Shall Inherit”, “Iniquitous”, “Bleed for Us to Live” and “Dreams of the Carrion Kind” – these LPs cause a serious bloodshed and I always feel a great neckache after listening to them. Killing Addiction works like a sleeping pill. Uggghhh, I am not surprised also that their comeback album “Fall of the Archetypes” is also totally unremarkable and boring… Some people just don’t have the guts and talent to play killer death metal, whether they tried to do it in the 90’s or 00’s. This must have been the reason why Killing Addiction didn’t get the recognition with their album... In comparison, Rottrevore was a killer band and now returned after two decades with a killer EP. We cannot say the same about Killing Addiction.
Standout tracks: “Nothing Remains”
Final rate: 60/100

What we have here is an interesting little album recorded in 1992, and released by the notorious JL America a year later. I was first introduced to this Florida band in about '91 or '92 when I was sent their first demo tape. At that time I was not completely impressed by these guys, as they sounded like a Slayer cover band and in their songs included breaks, riffs, and structures taken straight from 'Reign in Blood' or the earlier Slayer albums. But I remember being struck by their expert ability to do so, and I waited to see how they would develop. They soon released a 7" record on the cult underground label Seraphic Decay (if anyone out there has S.D. vinyl they want to get rid of, contact me!), home to such bands as Incantation, Morpheus Descends, Abhorrence, Derketa, etc. and then they, for all intents and purposes, completely disappeared... so discovering this album was something of a revelation for me. I found it at a local used CD store for two dollars and picked it up because I was interested in finding out, after all these years, exactly what happened with their progression. The answer? A little bit of a surprise, as this album is actually better than average.

Killing Addiction decided to go in a completely different direction from their earlier efforts... this album is a tasty little cut of brutal death metal in the grand Florida tradition. The closest thing I can compare this to would be Grave, from their second album on. The vocals combine ultra-low grunts and high piercing screams, the guitars cycle endlessly around revolving riff patterns and crunching rhythms before striking out into unexplored melodic territory or rising to vomit forth bizarre little solos, and the song structures are actually completely different from what had come before... closer to later Cannibal Corpse than anything else.

So is this album worth seeking out? I don't know, as it is probably almost impossible to find in any case. But I would definitely tape it if you can find a friend who has it, and it fills a strange little niche in the development of the American Death metal style that is worth exploring.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

The 1991 7" EP Necrosphere showed genuine promise, some of the most weighted, atmospheric US death outside of Pennsylvania's mighty Incantation, but it was hindered by terrible production. Still, the incredibly ghoulish guttural vocals, searing riff tumult and spacey synthesizer segues exhibited something we hadn't heard much of back in those days. When it came time for the band's proper debut, they were snagged up by JL America, a fledgling label carving their mark through the US underground with releases by Acheron, Morpheus Descends, and others, not to mention their European licensing of titles like Beherit's The Oath of Black Blood. What's even better, though, is that Killing Addiction represented a real second wave of Florida death, one nearly as crushing and compelling as its flagship generation, with a whole new world of disgust in store for the audience.

Unfortunately, Omega Factor does not fully deliver on all of this potential, and thus the band was never able to create large waves about itself. There are several admirable components on the debut: killer sci-fi/horror cover artwork, great logo, solid and intelligent lyrical expression, and most of us, utter brutality. But these qualities are sadly counterbalanced by a still lacking production and a dearth of truly memorable riffs. Killing Addiction trawls along to bludgeon you with crushing focus, while interspersing more technical, surgical guitars through the walls of slamming grooves, but the patterns never quite manifest into anything more than mosh fervor. "Nothing Remains", "Equating the Trinity" and "Altered at Birth" all have their share of old school aggression, taut performances and Pat Bailey's frightening, scrawled out growls, but there are no individual tricks that one can really point out as exemplary or lasting.

A few of the Necrosphere tracks are re-recorded here: the titular "Necrosphere", which has a supreme lead sequence, and the longer "Impaled". But both lack the same devious sci-fi cheese that they once adorned, and I was actually depressed that this aesthetic was not woven through the whole album, else we might have been presented with a more grisly alternative to fellow Floridians Nocturnus. Omega Factor is far more straightforward, and while that's not a bad thing in of itself, it just doesn't stand out. Also, while the mix is arguably superior to the EP, it still sounds rather amateur and scraped together. The drums often feel clunky, and the guitars tone is almost too overdriven, too crunchy if you could believe that. Having said this, it's still a good enough record to track down if you're hellbent on hunting old school gems that you might have missed. Memorable it is not; musically it's of a one-track mind, but it's a fun preamble to the entire atmospheric, drudging death wave currently trending, and brutal enough to sate the more cannibalistic underground mutants

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com