THE NEGATIVE BIAS is a new atmospheric black metal band. With former Alastor member I.F.S. joined by Golden Dawn's S.T. and Florian Musil the album "Lamentation of the Chaos Omega" was born. Being a relatively short album at only six songs the band accomplishes a lot with the few songs they give us. While listening it is extremely hard not to compare them to other similar bands such as Cradle of Filth. However, THE NEGATIVE BIAS is able to walk that fine line between having their roots show in the music but also experimenting and showing what atmospheric black metal could become. Like many other black metal bands, the album is a story that is being told in the music.

The first track "The Golden Key to a Pandemonium Kingdom" slowly sneaks up on you starting with soft ambient tones and sounds until it rolls into guitar riffs and drum beats, and finally throwing out a barrage of guitars and drum hits. The vocals fluctuate between raspy screeches, guttural groans, monk style chanting, and even slow spoken word. With a runtime of 8:37 it would be easy to think this is one of those songs you wished was over well before the end. However, that is what makes THE NEGATIVE BIAS first outing so interesting is that as soon as you think you know what this track has to offer it morphs into something else. Holding on to what you already experienced and pushing in a new direction.

"Journey into the Defleshed Paradise" begins with a whisper lulling you to come closer before the music really kicks in. However, this song doesn't beat you over the head with the sound it lets it wrap around you. This song like the first is a long one, but again they keep it fresh throughout, so you don't get bored with the length. It tells a story with the music as much as it does with the vocals. If there is a weak point in the album it would be "Tormented by Endless Delusions". It isn't a bad song, but it lacks the experimentation and originality of the other tracks on the album. It comes off more cookie cutter black metal than the rest. Being the shortest song on the album at 3:42 shows that this band works better with a longer song to play around with.

"The Undiscovered Universe of Atrocities" would have to be my favorite song off the album. It does everything the other songs do. The difference is this track feels like they threw everything they could at it, and it all stuck. The experimentation they try within this one song shouldn't work but it does. It truly feels like a mash up of different styles with a black metal cherry on top. I really enjoyed this album from beginning to end. This is an album that I would let someone listen to get them into black metal. The way it does so many different things would appeal to non-black metal fans and possible get them interested in more bands within the genre. There wasn't a bad song on it, the ones I pointed out were just the ones that stood out the most to me while listening to it. I will be adding this one to my playlist, and I can't wait to see what this band does next.