written by Chris Familton

Out of the ashes of the mighty Sleep came Om, a duo comprised of drums and bass but conjuring so much more in atmospherics and power than just a rhythm section would suggest. Fast forward to the Factory Theatre and finally Sydney fans had the chance to experience the band live, with new drummer Emil Amos (ex Grails) and a third member in Rob Lowe (aka Lichens) allowing them to expand their sound on stage.

Naked On the Vague had the local opening honors to a sparse and mainly seated crowd. Their sound is a curious mix of the punkier side of Sonic Youth and some more cold psych influences added to the mix. Lo-fi is the feel but sonically they are keen to batter and caress your ears, particularly with their great grinding bass sound that keeps things muscular. They were an interesting support choice for the dense stoner morass that was to come but nonetheless they warmed and abraded ears nicely.

Blarke Bayer/Black Widow are comprised of the guitarist from My Disco and the drummer from Grey Daturas and they proved to be just that – a guitar and a drum kit. There was little attempt to create more than the sum of their parts though that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. They started nice and hypnotic sounding dangerously akin to Dire Straits with peals of semi-solos before the beast grew into a gurning wall of noise with pummeling drums all intricate and machine-like and the guitar ascending into a sonic hailstorm. The drumming was the most appealing aspect of their sound but not enough to maintain attention beyond 20 minutes.

The newest member of Om – Lichens – also played a 20 minute piece of solo material ahead of the main act. Beginning with looped vocal sounds like the ghosts of seagulls he methodically added sparse picked and slide guitar to the layers of the piece before returning to the mic and creating his own epic choir of angels and demons. It was hypnotic and totally absorbing like gospel from the underworld. A performance demanding further investigation of Lichen’s music.

Om played their whole set as if they were trapped in a prison cell. Sure their music rose and fell in mood and aggression but they never broke out of their self-prescribed template. Bassist/singer Al Cisneros barely moved from the shadows, his finger-led bass rolling and pulsing constantly. He sings like a zombie, chants and incantations designed to lull you into a hypnotic trance, that is if you ignore the dungeons and dragons lyrics of chariots, eagles, pilgrims and sacred flames.

New-ish drummer Emil Amos is a powerhouse and the undeniable centre of attention. He constantly rose between songs to drink, wander and chat to Cisneros before returning to his stool and blasting out the most mechanic and precise drumming I’ve witnessed. He never fell into generic metal playing or uber-jazz licks, instead he kept changing things up, providing knife-edge accents to the bass playing and driving the songs everywhere, whether it was into Can and Circle krautrock territory or stoner Black Sabbath repetition.

The Factory wasn’t the best venue for Om, in terms of atmosphere and audience size so there was a certain absence of atmosphere and audience excitement for the band to play off. Instead it felt like a rather workman-like performance. Highly proficient and certainly compelling for the most part but definitely lacking any magic that would have taken the gig to another level.

This review first appeared on FasterLouder