Omega Factor (Reissue)
Killing Addiction
In this day and age, kids spend a couple hundred dollars in interfaces and software and are able to make their own recordings. These homemade recordings are light years beyond what some bands spent thousands of dollars for on their demos or debut recordings. KILLING ADDICTON is one such band for their 1993 debut release, "Omega Factor," introduces the listener to a more primitive, unrefined brand of Death Metal before the age of computer-based home recording. Oddly enough, the same kids who are known to make those polished demos often leave no stone unturned in their effort to find the key to such rough recordings. KILLING ADDICTON are natives of Ocala, Florida, the location where Death Metal can be found oozing and bubbling up in the bogs and swamps that are found throughout the country. Sometimes, as in the case of Norwegian Black Metal, the sound is simply in your blood.
When listening to "Omega Factor," it's important to keep in mind that this is a re-release of a debut album from 1993 with demo recordings dating back to 1990. Death Metal was literally shedding its after birth in the early stages of the genre. There simply were no rules, though some standards had been passed along from early bands like MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, and PESTILENCE (notice 2/3 of which are from Florida!). Unlike modern Death Metal, the drums are not triggered, and there is no clicking/popping sound. The guitar is like dirt caught in a vat of maple syrup, though not purposely like Sludge bands these days. For the most part the bass is inaudible, and the vocals are almost completely unintelligible. This is the album your mother would use as an example of the fact that all your music is noisy with garbled, monster-like vocals.
The perfect example of the rough quality of this album is the guitar parts in track 2, "Equating the Trinity" since the guitars are completely off-key. Also, the volumes of the different guitar tracks are at different levels making it hard to discern what is truly going on or meant to be going on. "Nothing Remains," track 3, features one of those riffs that's hard not to at least nod along to, but some of the lead guitar tracks act like a nuisance sounding like an unwanted noisy neighbor barging in the door. The 7th track, "Global Freezing," has some good blasting sections interspersed with breakdown riffs. The personal favorite riff of yours truly on the album is on "Impaled," the 8th track at the 1:39 mark, an ultra-slow grimy riff slightly reminiscent of EYEHATEGOD, though certainly without intending to do so. The band shows their Thrash side on the 14th track, "Condemned," which has a bit of D.R.I. or early C.O.C. sound. The resoundingly best track is track 6, 9 and 15, "Necrosphere." The band clearly has a much more succinct sound with a fast Thrash-type riff similar to some later CARCASS contrasted with a brutal slow riff akin to the catalog of AUTOPSY or their neighbors, OBITUARY.
Clearly, KILLING ADDICTON etched their own mark into the history of Death Metal, if only due to their location and proximity to other more successful bands. Being in an active scene is healthy of any band, and surely, they benefitted from it. While the album is no "Slowly We Rot" or "Severed Survival," Death Metal fans will want to pick this up if not for the raw, primitive glimpse into the past then for a place marker in the genre's time line.Production 4
5 / 10
Mediocre
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
"Omega Factor (Reissue)" Track-listing:
1. Omega Factor
2. Equating the Trinity
3. Nothing Remains
4. Dehumanized
5. Altered at Birth
6. Necrosphere
7. Global Freezing
8. Impaled
9. Necrosphere (7" EP '91)
10. Covenant of Pain (7" EP '91)
11. Impaled (7" EP '91)
12. Nothing Remains (Demo '90)
13. Well of Souls (Demo '90)
14. Condemned (Demo '90)
15. Necrosphere (Demo '90)
Killing Addiction Lineup:
Chad Bailey - Guitar
Patrick Bailey - Bass, Vocals
Chris Wicklein - Guitar
Chris York - Drums
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