Artist: Ötzi
Title: Storm
Genre: Post Punk / Alt Rock
Release Date: 22nd May 2020
Label: Artoffact Records
Album Review
In 2014 there were disparate atoms floating around in the Oakland air and then invisible forces facilitated their joining together to become what is now known as ÖTZI. ÖTZI is an iceman found in the Alps between Italy and Austria. He is purported to be around 3000 years old. ÖTZI the band aren’t that old but they have achieved a lot in the 6 years they’ve inhabited this earth. I suppose their journey has been icy like the freezing blasts of Nifelheim and then steamy hot like the furnace of Muspel, the constant cooling and heating reshaping and remoulding the sounds emanating from the collective within.
I like them. This is my first exposure to any of their output but it’s a sound I am familiar with, a sound I grew up with. The progenitors of this style of music ring clear in my ears along with recent bands inspired by the same influences. I can hear X MAL DEUTSCHLAND quite clearly along with early CURE and SIOUXSIE SIOUX. Contemporary acts like RATKA and KAELAN MIKLA spring to mind too. The album doesn’t break any new ground musically but I don’t care about that. What the music has is that “meat and potatoes with gravy” feel to it. You know the feeling; it doesn’t matter how many times you have meat and potatoes with gravy it’s always tasty and a welcoming stomach filler. It does have some nice touches though like the vocal interplay between drummer Gina Marie and bassist Akiko Samson. Opening track ‘Moths’ is a jaunty number with simple pa pa pa, pa pa pa drums, punchy bass and interweaved guitars.
The next track ‘Hold Still’ carries on where ‘Moths’ left off with more of the same but I notice that the sound is pure in its construction. In the sense that it’s not effects saturated. There’s a clarity to the mix which is pleasing to my ears. I don’t feel fatigued or overworked Aurally. Sorry, I was just nodding along to ‘Tunnels’ because it has an easy lolling meander to it with the vein of guitar sewn right through. Chorus and overdrive are used more so on ‘Eight Cups’ which is another good track but the penultimate track ‘15 Stars’ is a blinder! I love it. The bass is a fulcrum that catapults the guitar out into an orbit around it and the drums snap to keep the guitar from crashing back into the centre. And the emphatic vocal finds its space to move in and out of all this motion! Finally, we get to the title track ‘Storm’. I get the impression of being helpless inside a tornado. Keyboards and strings leave me with the sense of easy helplessness as I swirl around in the storm’s centre. The vocal pleads through its echo as the strings back it up, the drums pum pum pumming hypnotically to the track’s resolution.
All in all, I’d conclude by saying that this is a fine listen. I think the album has been well constructed with good separation between all the elements. The less is more adage has been used to good effect. For the whole duration of the album I did not get bored or tune out to other things, if anything I found that I had to make an effort to tune out but always got pulled back in. Also, the fact that most of the tracks hovered around the 3 minute 40 second mark helped. The longest track being ‘15 Stars’ at 6 seconds short of 5 minutes. This is definitely worth a listen!
Tracklist
01. Moths
02. Hold Still
03. Tunnels
04. Scorpio
05. Ballad Of Oiwa
06. Contagious
07. Eight Cups
09. 15 Stars
10. Storm
Line-up
Akiko Sampson – Bass and Vocals
K Dillon Edrich – Guitars
Winter Zora – Multi-Instrumentalist
Gina Marie – Drums and Vocal
Website
https://www.facebook.com/otziband/
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10
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