3 out of 5

Label: Tortuga

Producer: Kurt Ballou

Supergroup that it is – Aaron Turner having culled various madmen from around the hardcore (er, Boston) scene – OMG was never going to have the organic sound of a full-fledged band.  To Turner’s / the group’s credit, they seem to understand that and embrace it by adopting a cold theme for their albums and packaging and song titles – something something mankind still being primitive – and purposefully fracturing most of their recordings between either legit hardcore stomps or noise experimentations.  This has worked to greater or lesser degree over the course of a few scattered releases, but there’s never a moment on an album that feels miscalculated, per se – these are all talented musicians who bring a varied set of skills to the table, so it’s impressive, at the very least, that track by track they can produce something cohesive and effective.  It’s when we don’t take things track by track that OMG doesn’t really hit home, and ‘Christmas’ is a pretty good encapsulation of that flaw, although it offers some pretty excellent moments from the hardcore and experimental sides that take up enough space on the record to definitely merit a listen.

Besides being offset by the first track, the disc alternates between hardcore and noise, starting from track 2.  Runtimes vary from less than a minute to over 10, and in general, things are at their best when the group gives itself time to expand (harkening back to the 20 minute epic ‘Zozobra’).  Opener ‘Gift’ is years of hardcore polish, and makes you feel like you’re in for another amazing Hydra Head or Tortuga release.  The lyrics throughout the disc leave a little something to be desired (generally just a chorus repeat), but it’s delivered with enough vitriol and the beat is whipped up into such a frenzy that you really can’t care too much.  But the song stops short and does some experimenting at the end that doesn’t really help lead-in to the minute thrash of ‘Skullstorm’.  Thankfully, though the minimalist ‘Something for the Mrs.’ takes a while to warm up, it successfully draws your attentions back in… although the next few songs leave you wanting more again; though they are complete, the ideas feel only half-committed, giving the disc almost a compilation-like feel, as though these things could be stitched together in any order.

And thus does the recording continue – an amazing pair of 7+ minute tracks midway through, ‘Accord-o-Matic’ and ‘The Volcano’ – before it slips back into average stuff.  The exception to the ‘longer songs are better’ is the ending ‘Christmas Eve Pts. 1-3’.  Although it has its moments – a pretty stunning breakdown in the middle, and quirky conclusion – it feels at odds with the disc for whatever reason, wanting to be on its own.

Kurt Ballou gives the plugged in moments the necessary stomp, but otherwise this is recorded like an Isis release – everything has a softer edge to it, like its held back a notch from going overboard.  This makes it incredibly easy to listen to, but also easy to tune out, for better or worse.  A sense of looseness during those average tracks could’ve made all the difference.

I appreciate the general gist of OMG, but I do wish that for their releases that embrace these two styles, they’d focus more on making the pieces fit together as an album.  But if you can set that notion aside, there are some great hardcore tracks here, and many, many great elements that get lost too easily (or are too fleeting) in the presentation.