Blood (OSI album)
Encyclopedia
Blood is the third studio album
by American progressive rock
band OSI
, released by InsideOut Music
on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19, 2009 in North America.
Guitarist Jim Matheos
and keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore
started work on the album in 2008, collaborating by email
. Matheos would send Moore a song idea which Moore would edit and send back to Matheos. Mike Portnoy
of Dream Theater
, who performed drums on Office of Strategic Influence
and Free
, was replaced by Porcupine Tree
drummer Gavin Harrison
on Blood. Matheos played bass guitar on the album, having hired guest musicians to perform bass duties on the first two OSI albums. Mikael Åkerfeldt
of Opeth
and Tim Bowness
of No-Man
wrote lyrics and performed vocals on one track each.
Critical reception of Blood was generally positive. The more atmospheric and ambient
tracks were praised; the more metal
-oriented tracks received mixed reactions. Moore's lyrics and Harrison's drumming, in particular, were met with acclaim.
posted a news update to the official Chroma Key
website. In it, he stated that he had been working with guitarist Jim Matheos
on a third OSI album "for several months now, slowly but surely." Moore later stated that with OSI, he and Matheos "usually play it by ear. We never really know if we're going to do another OSI, we never agree on it. I don't remember ever agreeing to start a new one, really. But Jim will send me an idea or something and we just start talking about it."
Blood was written and recorded in the same way as the first two OSI albums. Matheos and Moore worked together on the album long-distance, mainly by email
ing each other files. Matheos would send Moore song ideas, "from just a guitar riff to elaborate, almost completed songs," Moore said. "Then I ask what I can do, and I mess around, complete a verse and add a chorus, do editing, add some vocals, and send it back to him."
Moore considered the writing of Blood to be harder compared to previous OSI albums. Previously, Matheos would send Moore guitar parts to work with, allowing Moore to "work with editing them, pitching them, and fucking about them different ways, and then programming drums and keyboards." When working on Blood, Matheos also provided programming, keyboard and drum parts. "If he sent me stuff that already had drums and keyboard parts, and it wasn't a complete idea, I had to figure out a way to elaborate on it without having that same equipment that he has there," Moore said. Overall, he considered the writing process to be "smoother because we got on a roll and we're more fluid together".
Mike Portnoy
of Dream Theater
played drums on Office of Strategic Influence
and Free
, but found the experience frustrating. Moore regarded Portnoy's contributions to the first two albums as "great", but he and Matheos decided to recruit a different drummer for Blood. "We were continuing to try to get new voices involved with the album", he explained. Matheos, a fan of Porcupine Tree
, was in control of personnel on Blood and asked Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison
to perform drums on the album. Harrison had a schedule gap in the fourth quarter of 2008, so agreed to work on the album. He never met Matheos and Moore, recording his drums parts in his recording studio in England and exchanging files with them over the Internet. Most songs were sent to Harrison with programmed drums. "For the most part, we usually told him to try to stay away from the programmed drums and come up with his own parts, and he did. So much of that is his taking it in a different direction," Moore said. "There was probably at least one song, maybe two, where we said 'We'd like you to keep closer to the programmed drums,' but he had a lot of say in what went on." Matheos and Moore were "very happy" with Harrison's work on Blood, and hoped to work with him on the fourth OSI album. Blood marked the first time Matheos played bass on an OSI album instead of recruiting an outside bassist.
Matheos asked Opeth
vocalist and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt
to write lyrics and perform vocals on one track, which would become "Stockholm". Matheos and Moore sent him the track they wanted him to work on, and he sent back a rough mix of his vocals. "We were really happy with it," Moore said. "We didn't do any revisions or ask for any changes, like we were expecting to... It was a different approach than I would have taken, and that's what was refreshing about it. That's why we wanted to get somebody else to do some vocals on the album." Tim Bowness
of No-Man
wrote lyrics and performed vocals on "No Celebrations", a bonus track.
or progressive metal
, there's a lot of people doing those things already."
Moore stated that he found writing songs which combined progressive metal and electronic music easier than writing songs confined to one genre. "There's people who do that better. Working with the two genres, they're different enough from each other – almost natural enemies – that it keeps it interesting," he said. "It doesn't feel like being in conquered territory, it feels like there's still room to explore. There's always conflicts between the two writing elements that keeps it interesting."
When writing lyrics for previous releases, Moore would "start mumbling and I try to figure out what I'm saying and then try to make it make sense". With Blood, he "really wrote them down and tried to make them coherent. I didn't want it to be like 'Oh, you get your own impression of the lyrics. Everybody has their own idea!' I wanted to have an idea that I wanted to communicate, and something communicable." Moore noted that he did occasionally use his "mumbling" method as it "puts you in the right direction as far as sounds, vowel sounds, and stresses on certain syllables. And if you can write some words and lyrics that match that, sometimes it flows really well." He described all the songs as based on "personal experiences". "I'll start writing a song that has a little bit of a world view or political view or something," he said, "but then by the time I'm finished the lyrics it'll be about a relationship or something like that."
Matheos recorded his parts in Pro Tools
using a FocusRite Saffire PRO 40 preamp. Matheos primarily used PRS
guitars and Mesa Boogie
amplifiers. Moore used Ableton Live
to write music and record his vocals. The only keyboard he used was a Minimoog Voyager
.
on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19 in North America. Matheos and Moore unsuccessfully tried to organise a tour in support of Free. "We sort of disappointed people by saying that we were trying to making [a tour] happen and we wanted to make it happen," Moore said, "so this time we're not going to say that stuff." Moore stated that OSI would remain a studio-only project "until further notice".
The special edition of Blood came with a bonus disc featuring three extra tracks. Tim Bowness
(of No-Man
) wrote lyrics and performed vocals on the first song, "No Celebrations". The second track is a cover of "Christian Brothers" by Elliott Smith
. The third track is "Terminal (Endless)", an extended version of the regular CD track "Terminal". "It still has something interesting drum stuff where Gavin just plays steady beats with variations on it," Moore said. "We had some mercy on the album version, but on the bonus CD, we don't have any mercy and we just let it go."
, Marty Dodge praised the album as "jaw droppingly impressive", considering it to "[have] the potential to be up there in top albums of the year". Andrew Reilly of MadeLoud lauded Blood as OSI's best album, although considered other individual songs from the band's catalog to be stronger than those on the album. Alex Henderson of Allmusic regarded Blood as "an album that falls short of earth-shattering but is still solid and worthwhile".
Sea of Tranquility reviewer Batmaz praised the production of the album describing Phil Magnotti's work as "phenomeal."
Reilly described Blood as "fully mastering the techno
-informed brand of progressive metal so many others have pursued to no avail... with Blood the two have finally found the stylistic fusion their first two discs hinted at". Henderson described the sound of the album as "Pink Floyd
and King Crimson
by way of Radiohead
, Nirvana
, grunge
, alt-metal
and alt rock
."
Reilly lauded Moore's lyrics, describing them as closer to his work in Dream Theater
and Chroma Key
than on the first two OSI albums. "Moore turns conventional phrases... into thinly-veiled warnings to some unknown subject," Reilly commented. "OSI has long been Moore's avenue for exploring the political as the personal, but here those two subjects fully cannibalize each other which, given this group's past efforts and considerable talents, would not at all be an impossible intention or unforeseen consequence." He praised Gavin Harrison's drum performance, describing it as "phenomenal". He considered "Stockholm" and "Blood" to be the highlights of the album. Dodge praised "Radiologue" as "stunning".
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by American progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band OSI
OSI (band)
OSI is an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band...
, released by InsideOut Music
InsideOut Music
Inside Out Music is a German independent record label based in Kleve, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles music albums.-History:...
on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19, 2009 in North America.
Guitarist Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
and keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
started work on the album in 2008, collaborating by email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
. Matheos would send Moore a song idea which Moore would edit and send back to Matheos. Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
of Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
, who performed drums on Office of Strategic Influence
Office of Strategic Influence (album)
Office of Strategic Influence is the first album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut....
and Free
Free (OSI album)
Free is the second album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.Guitarist Jim Matheos and keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore decided to work on a follow-up to Office of Strategic Influence after the two found they both had holes in their schedules....
, was replaced by Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
drummer Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
on Blood. Matheos played bass guitar on the album, having hired guest musicians to perform bass duties on the first two OSI albums. Mikael Åkerfeldt
Mikael Åkerfeldt
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician who achieved fame as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth as well as the lead vocalist of death metal band Bloodbath. He was the vocalist and guitarist for the band Sörskogen and the guitarist of the band Steel...
of Opeth
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...
and Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness is a singer/songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.-Music career:...
of No-Man
No-Man
No-Man are a British art-pop duo formed in 1987 as No Man Is An Island by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson . The band has so far produced six studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections...
wrote lyrics and performed vocals on one track each.
Critical reception of Blood was generally positive. The more atmospheric and ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
tracks were praised; the more metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
-oriented tracks received mixed reactions. Moore's lyrics and Harrison's drumming, in particular, were met with acclaim.
Background
On September 4, 2008, keyboardist and vocalist Kevin MooreKevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
posted a news update to the official Chroma Key
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is the name under which ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore records. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of Chroma Key such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson....
website. In it, he stated that he had been working with guitarist Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
on a third OSI album "for several months now, slowly but surely." Moore later stated that with OSI, he and Matheos "usually play it by ear. We never really know if we're going to do another OSI, we never agree on it. I don't remember ever agreeing to start a new one, really. But Jim will send me an idea or something and we just start talking about it."
Blood was written and recorded in the same way as the first two OSI albums. Matheos and Moore worked together on the album long-distance, mainly by email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
ing each other files. Matheos would send Moore song ideas, "from just a guitar riff to elaborate, almost completed songs," Moore said. "Then I ask what I can do, and I mess around, complete a verse and add a chorus, do editing, add some vocals, and send it back to him."
Moore considered the writing of Blood to be harder compared to previous OSI albums. Previously, Matheos would send Moore guitar parts to work with, allowing Moore to "work with editing them, pitching them, and fucking about them different ways, and then programming drums and keyboards." When working on Blood, Matheos also provided programming, keyboard and drum parts. "If he sent me stuff that already had drums and keyboard parts, and it wasn't a complete idea, I had to figure out a way to elaborate on it without having that same equipment that he has there," Moore said. Overall, he considered the writing process to be "smoother because we got on a roll and we're more fluid together".
Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
of Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
played drums on Office of Strategic Influence
Office of Strategic Influence (album)
Office of Strategic Influence is the first album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut....
and Free
Free (OSI album)
Free is the second album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.Guitarist Jim Matheos and keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore decided to work on a follow-up to Office of Strategic Influence after the two found they both had holes in their schedules....
, but found the experience frustrating. Moore regarded Portnoy's contributions to the first two albums as "great", but he and Matheos decided to recruit a different drummer for Blood. "We were continuing to try to get new voices involved with the album", he explained. Matheos, a fan of Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
, was in control of personnel on Blood and asked Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
to perform drums on the album. Harrison had a schedule gap in the fourth quarter of 2008, so agreed to work on the album. He never met Matheos and Moore, recording his drums parts in his recording studio in England and exchanging files with them over the Internet. Most songs were sent to Harrison with programmed drums. "For the most part, we usually told him to try to stay away from the programmed drums and come up with his own parts, and he did. So much of that is his taking it in a different direction," Moore said. "There was probably at least one song, maybe two, where we said 'We'd like you to keep closer to the programmed drums,' but he had a lot of say in what went on." Matheos and Moore were "very happy" with Harrison's work on Blood, and hoped to work with him on the fourth OSI album. Blood marked the first time Matheos played bass on an OSI album instead of recruiting an outside bassist.
Matheos asked Opeth
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...
vocalist and guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt
Mikael Åkerfeldt
Lars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician who achieved fame as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth as well as the lead vocalist of death metal band Bloodbath. He was the vocalist and guitarist for the band Sörskogen and the guitarist of the band Steel...
to write lyrics and perform vocals on one track, which would become "Stockholm". Matheos and Moore sent him the track they wanted him to work on, and he sent back a rough mix of his vocals. "We were really happy with it," Moore said. "We didn't do any revisions or ask for any changes, like we were expecting to... It was a different approach than I would have taken, and that's what was refreshing about it. That's why we wanted to get somebody else to do some vocals on the album." Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness is a singer/songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.-Music career:...
of No-Man
No-Man
No-Man are a British art-pop duo formed in 1987 as No Man Is An Island by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson . The band has so far produced six studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections...
wrote lyrics and performed vocals on "No Celebrations", a bonus track.
Music
Moore regarded Blood as "[distilling] the OSI vibe that we've been going for all along with this album". He noted that there was "conflict" due to his and Matheos' different musical tastes, "but it's not a personality conflict. It's a musical conflict where we want different things to happen and have to work it musically." Moore considered this conflict to be "pretty much the only thing that makes OSI relatively original. If it was just one way or the other, like the singer-songwriter stuff, electronic musicElectronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
or progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
, there's a lot of people doing those things already."
Moore stated that he found writing songs which combined progressive metal and electronic music easier than writing songs confined to one genre. "There's people who do that better. Working with the two genres, they're different enough from each other – almost natural enemies – that it keeps it interesting," he said. "It doesn't feel like being in conquered territory, it feels like there's still room to explore. There's always conflicts between the two writing elements that keeps it interesting."
When writing lyrics for previous releases, Moore would "start mumbling and I try to figure out what I'm saying and then try to make it make sense". With Blood, he "really wrote them down and tried to make them coherent. I didn't want it to be like 'Oh, you get your own impression of the lyrics. Everybody has their own idea!' I wanted to have an idea that I wanted to communicate, and something communicable." Moore noted that he did occasionally use his "mumbling" method as it "puts you in the right direction as far as sounds, vowel sounds, and stresses on certain syllables. And if you can write some words and lyrics that match that, sometimes it flows really well." He described all the songs as based on "personal experiences". "I'll start writing a song that has a little bit of a world view or political view or something," he said, "but then by the time I'm finished the lyrics it'll be about a relationship or something like that."
Matheos recorded his parts in Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
using a FocusRite Saffire PRO 40 preamp. Matheos primarily used PRS
PRS Guitars
PRS Guitars is an American guitar manufacturer headquartered in Stevensville, Maryland. PRS Guitars was founded by guitarist and luthier Paul Reed Smith in 1985. The company is one of the leading manufacturers of high-end electric guitars.-Materials:...
guitars and Mesa Boogie
Mesa Boogie
Mesa/Boogie is a company in Petaluma, California that makes amplifiers for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969....
amplifiers. Moore used Ableton Live
Ableton Live
Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. The latest major release of Live, Version 8, was released in April 2009. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for...
to write music and record his vocals. The only keyboard he used was a Minimoog Voyager
Minimoog Voyager
The Minimoog Voyager or Voyager is a monophonic analog synthesizer, designed by Robert Moog and released in 2002 by Moog Music. The Voyager was modeled after the classic Minimoog synthesizer that was popular in the 1970s, and is meant to be a successor to that instrument.-Design:Like the original...
.
Release and promotion
Blood was released by InsideOut MusicInsideOut Music
Inside Out Music is a German independent record label based in Kleve, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles music albums.-History:...
on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19 in North America. Matheos and Moore unsuccessfully tried to organise a tour in support of Free. "We sort of disappointed people by saying that we were trying to making [a tour] happen and we wanted to make it happen," Moore said, "so this time we're not going to say that stuff." Moore stated that OSI would remain a studio-only project "until further notice".
The special edition of Blood came with a bonus disc featuring three extra tracks. Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness
Tim Bowness is a singer/songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.-Music career:...
(of No-Man
No-Man
No-Man are a British art-pop duo formed in 1987 as No Man Is An Island by singer Tim Bowness and multi-instrumentalist Steven Wilson . The band has so far produced six studio albums and a number of singles/outtakes collections...
) wrote lyrics and performed vocals on the first song, "No Celebrations". The second track is a cover of "Christian Brothers" by Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...
. The third track is "Terminal (Endless)", an extended version of the regular CD track "Terminal". "It still has something interesting drum stuff where Gavin just plays steady beats with variations on it," Moore said. "We had some mercy on the album version, but on the bonus CD, we don't have any mercy and we just let it go."
Reception
Critical reception of Blood was generally positive. Writing for BlogcriticsBlogcritics
Blogcritics is a blog network and online magazine of news and opinion. The site—a self-proclaimed "sinister cabal of superior writers"—was founded in 2002 by Eric Olsen and Phillip Winn...
, Marty Dodge praised the album as "jaw droppingly impressive", considering it to "[have] the potential to be up there in top albums of the year". Andrew Reilly of MadeLoud lauded Blood as OSI's best album, although considered other individual songs from the band's catalog to be stronger than those on the album. Alex Henderson of Allmusic regarded Blood as "an album that falls short of earth-shattering but is still solid and worthwhile".
Sea of Tranquility reviewer Batmaz praised the production of the album describing Phil Magnotti's work as "phenomeal."
Reilly described Blood as "fully mastering the techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...
-informed brand of progressive metal so many others have pursued to no avail... with Blood the two have finally found the stylistic fusion their first two discs hinted at". Henderson described the sound of the album as "Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
and King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
by way of Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
, grunge
Grunge
Grunge is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged during the mid-1980s in the American state of Washington, particularly in the Seattle area. Inspired by hardcore punk, heavy metal, and indie rock, grunge is generally characterized by heavily distorted electric guitars, contrasting song...
, alt-metal
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a genre of alternative rock and heavy metal that gained popularity in the early 1990s. Most notably, alternative metal bands are characterized by heavy guitar riffs and experimental approaches to heavy music.-Origins:...
and alt rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
."
Reilly lauded Moore's lyrics, describing them as closer to his work in Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
and Chroma Key
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is the name under which ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore records. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of Chroma Key such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson....
than on the first two OSI albums. "Moore turns conventional phrases... into thinly-veiled warnings to some unknown subject," Reilly commented. "OSI has long been Moore's avenue for exploring the political as the personal, but here those two subjects fully cannibalize each other which, given this group's past efforts and considerable talents, would not at all be an impossible intention or unforeseen consequence." He praised Gavin Harrison's drum performance, describing it as "phenomenal". He considered "Stockholm" and "Blood" to be the highlights of the album. Dodge praised "Radiologue" as "stunning".
Track listing
Special edition bonus discPersonnel
- Jim MatheosJim MatheosJim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, programming - Kevin MooreKevin MooreFor the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
– vocals, keyboards, programming - Gavin HarrisonGavin HarrisonGavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Mikael ÅkerfeldtMikael ÅkerfeldtLars Mikael Åkerfeldt is a Swedish musician who achieved fame as the lead vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of progressive death metal band Opeth as well as the lead vocalist of death metal band Bloodbath. He was the vocalist and guitarist for the band Sörskogen and the guitarist of the band Steel...
– vocals on "Stockholm" - Tim BownessTim BownessTim Bowness is a singer/songwriter primarily known for his work as part of the band No-Man, a long-term project formed in 1987 with Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson.-Music career:...
– vocals on "No Celebrations"
- Produced by Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore
- Mixed by Phil Magnotti, Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore
External links
- Official OSI website, featuring samples from Blood