OMA&TUQ are a Swedish band with one very original (not so successful as a choice in my opinion…) name in the metal genre with Johan Lindstrand formerly in ‘The Crown’ on the frontline (has ‘warbled’ for ‘Impious’ & ‘Incapacity’ also). For this year’s 3^rd album they are promoted and released by Massacre, instead of Lindstrand’s long time ‘Nuclear Blast’ support.

The album picks up from where its predecessor stopped and it appears to have surpassed some past experiments like weak melodic vocals and leads that made the total result sound somewhere in the middle. They’ve tighten up their up tempo sound, becoming more concluding and substantial. They have very few ‘not that good’ moments in this CD.

What’s this like? Well, I’d say a mixture of ‘The Crown’ (not  a bit high-speed parts, though), ‘Arch Enemy’, ‘Carcass’ (“Heartwork” / “Swansong” era) and death ‘n’ roll era of ‘Entombed’ with a slight ‘Metallica’ s “Black Album” feeling in a way! Their music is heavy rhythms-like with –purely metal; no core here- cut-downs, while Johan reminds of Taneli Jarva -when playing with ‘Sentenced’- in moments. The ‘Undead’ ones sound really put together, assisted by the excellent production of Jonas Kjellgren (Carnal Forge, Scar Symmetry etc.). Another differing factor is the coming of rhythm guitarist Mattias Bolander, who plays with drummer Marek Dobrowolski (also in thrashers ‘Reclusion’).

To sum up, if you enjoy a ‘full’ heavy sound and melodic thrash / death that rather rocks than touching the likes of ‘Dark Tranquillity’ or ‘In Flames’ you’ll enjoy this, big time! You can check them on the ‘Hammer Battalion Tour’ with ‘Unleashed’ & ‘Krisiun’.