Omotai

"I'll admit to being bummed when I learned that quasi-Nordic-themed, heavy-ass metal trio Kvalla had officially imploded when drummer Danny Mee fled to parts northwestward, but I'm happy as hell to hear that Sam from said band is now channelling his need for heavy-as-fuck, head-crushing music into new project Omotai, which also includes -- dum-da-dee-dum -- the ever-cool Melissa from Sharks and Sailors and newly-found drummer Anthony from now-dead metallers Subjugator.

The trio are releasing their debut EP, Peace Through Fear, sometime around late April or early May, and judging by what's up on the band's Myspace, at least, it's going to be fucking epic. Heavy, sludgy, doom-y metal with thundering drums, menacing bass, and monster-stomping guitars, the kind of music that makes me want to grab the guitar and crank the amp up to 10 and pretend I'm in Helmet or something. Think Neurosis, The Ocean, Isis, or a nastier, meaner Pelican with a ridiculously better drummer. Seriously, I need to hear more." - Space City Rock

The unmistakable sound of heavy metal exploded from the KTRU stage at Free Press Summer Fest last Saturday. I was hurrying, trying to get up to the top of the hill to catch Omotai's performance.

So I get there around the second, maybe third song and looked around at a crowd whose faces had already melted off.

Yeah, really… Omotai isn’t for the weak.
In fact, “Omotai” is a Japanese word that translates to “heavy, massive”. It's such a great name because it describe's this band perfectly.

By the way, the title for this article was "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Omotai!"

The heavy metal trio consists of Melissa Lonchambon (bass, vocals), Sam Waters (guitar, vocals), and Anthony Vallejo (drums, vocals).
Omotai will be at Mangos on Saturday, June 19th, so go check them out.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Click HERE to have a listen to “The Color K” and “The Left Path” songs off their first EP “Peace Through Fear”.
You can keep up with Omotai on Myspace and check out more videos on their Youtube channel.
- Examiner.com

"I'll admit to being bummed when I learned that quasi-Nordic-themed, heavy-ass metal trio Kvalla had officially imploded when drummer Danny Mee fled to parts northwestward, but I'm happy as hell to hear that Sam from said band is now channelling his need for heavy-as-fuck, head-crushing music into new project Omotai, which also includes -- dum-da-dee-dum -- the ever-cool Melissa from Sharks and Sailors and newly-found drummer Anthony from now-dead metallers Subjugator.

The trio are releasing their debut EP, Peace Through Fear, sometime around late April or early May, and judging by what's up on the band's Myspace, at least, it's going to be fucking epic. Heavy, sludgy, doom-y metal with thundering drums, menacing bass, and monster-stomping guitars, the kind of music that makes me want to grab the guitar and crank the amp up to 10 and pretend I'm in Helmet or something. Think Neurosis, The Ocean, Isis, or a nastier, meaner Pelican with a ridiculously better drummer. Seriously, I need to hear more." - Space City Rock

Fact: If Will Smith makes a movie, we are going to watch it.
It could be about anything. It could be a six-hour-long 3-D movie where he plays a cowboy in outer space that's been sent forward in time to stop a crime from happening that he perpetrates against himself. And he could speak Japanese the entire time. And there could be no subtitles. Whatever. We're going to watch it. Because his name rings out like that. If he's involved, it's probably going to be strong. And that, in part, is why Omotai is the latest pick for Artist of the Week.
In the Houston indie scene, Melissa Lonchambon's (of Sharks and Sailors fame) name rings out too. And as soon as we heard that she was involved in a new project (hat-tip to B. Zabak), we set to getting them pinned down for an interview.
After the jump, read 2/3s of Omotai's official take on Ninja Assassin, angry-man shouting, Motley Crue and which local bands they'd like to go to war with, courtesy of Lonchambon and guitarist/vocalist Sam Waters.

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Rocks Off: It seems like this is a question that has to be asked: The other night we watched this movie called Ninja Assassin. It's about a ninja that goes around killing other ninjas. So here's the question: Why isn't every movie written around that plot? We mean, we watched Men Who Stare At Goats a few weeks back. There wasn't even one time where a guy got his head lopped off. Weak.
Sam: Totally. So much wasted possibility, cause there's no problem a ninja couldn't solve. Or start. Every crappy movie I've ever seen could have benefited from a ninja injection. I can only imagine the sweet satisfaction of watching Jar Jar Binks get disemboweled by a katana. Or watching Ashton Kutcher get hit by 300 throwing stars at the same time. Or watching the entire cast of The Happening getting all the teeth knocked out of their bitch heads with some wicked chopping action. Killer plants? No problem, sucka, tell that pussy Shyamalan to send in the ninjas.
RO: [laughs]
Melissa: I haven't seen either of those. The last movie I watched was The Muppets Take Manhattan. Swedish Chef could do some damage, though.
RO: So, Melissa, Omotai is your new thing, huh? Can you talk a little about that. How is it different from what Sharks and Sailors was doing musically?
M: Omotai is a completely different beast; more angry-man shouting, less sexy-time prog. The bands do have an overlap in musical taste and influence, though.
S: We're louder, we use way more distortion, we shout more, and we take the odd-time schtick to an extreme. We're definitely not danceable. We try to be pretty at-your-throat, though.
M: Although, based on our last show, it's danceable if you've had enough alcohol. RO: Did you leave Sharks and Sailors completely?
S: I was never in Sharks and Sailors. Assholes never asked me to join.
M: No. [Sharks and Sailors] has been hibernating. We're back starting this weekend for the sIngs CD release at Mango's and some other ones, including the Free Press Houston Summer Fest. [Ed. note: Find out more on Sharks and Sailors' hiatus later this week.}
RO: So what happened with Sharks and Sailors anyway? Did you guys have it out? Oooh, better yet, did one of you get super pissed at the other two guys and take to lopping their heads off? Band Member Assassin has a kind of cool ring to it.
S: God damn it, I said I'm not in that band. Watching Mels decapitate someone would be pretty rockin', though, no denying.
M: Basically, our drummer Phil's muscle flexing and breakdancing careers took off, so that got in the way of [Sharks and Sailors'] practice schedule.
S: Let's say, hypothetically speaking of course [wink, wink], you were the Band Member Assassin. Who would you set your head-lopping-off sights on?
S: Jesus, don't even get me started. I'd probably dig up Jerry Garcia and reanimate him so I could re-kill him. After that, probably every member of Metallica. Poison. Motley Crue. After that, the sky's the limit. I'd be drip-dryin' a lot of motherfuckers, I can tell you that.
RO: [laughs] Which Houston indie band (or indie band member) would serve as the best supervillian in your movie? Room 101 seems a good choice. We mean, he wears that gas mask and whatnot. That's a little intimidating. Or maybe Andrew Lee from the Wild Moccasins? He's always seemed so docile and harmless. Wouldn't it be just perfect if he was this ruthless, ruthless killer? He'd probably wear an all-white suit in the movie, like some sort of Asian death angel. Oh man, this movie is shaping up to be incredible. Sam: How bout this: Pit us against every Houston band; "There can be only one" and all that. Then we could franchise that shit.
See Omotai May 14 at Walters with Cavernous and May 22 for the Girls Rock Camp Houston benefit show (venue TBA). Their first EP will be out in May or June. Come to their shows and buy their records. It'd help their self esteem. See them online at www.omotai.bandcamp.com. - HoustonPress.com

"Throats of Snakes" from the album Fresh Hell, out Feb. 18, 2014. For more, check out the band's Bandcamp page. - Metal Injection

There are few acts that attempt to fuse Sludge with Doom and Progressive Metal and even fewer that successfully pulls it off. Houston’s Omotai shows great promise on their sophomore album Fresh Hell.

At first listen, one will initially draw comparisons of Fresh Hell to Mastodon’s 2002 debut album Remission. “We Don’t Have To Be Strangers,” for example, could be considered a textbook Mastodon track with its slow and odd signature changes.

Thankfully, Omotai breaks away from these comparisons with tracks such as “Giant Pygmy,” which contains a Hardcore Punk bass opening and the more traditional extreme heavy metal sound on “Throats Of Snakes.”

Although it seems as if the band took more risks with 2012’s debut Terrestrial Grief in terms of sound, they don’t seem to be playing it safe with Fresh Hell either. Omotai continues to evolve as in the future they have the potential to become one of metal’s most bewitching acts. - Epoch Times

Who? Melissa Lonchambon Ryan is one of the main arteries that the blood of Houston music flows through. Currently she's the bassist for Omotai, who released the spine-throttling EP Fresh Hell back in February on Treaty Oak Collective, but that's just a fraction of who she's been in the scene.
The child of musical parents, Ryan started early. Her dad was in the Little Singers of Paris (similar to the Vienna Boys' Choir) when he was a kid, performing all around the world. Piano lessons, saxophone in the school band, but it was in summer vacations during middle school that her true path was laid out when she watched MTV's 120 Minutes and Headbanger's Ball. Her envy of an older brother who played guitar in a band sealed the deal, and Ryan forged ahead in groups like Pop Deflation, Lucky Motors, Panic in Detroit, Sharks and Sailors and Peloton.

Omotai has just returned from a jaunt out West, including Total Fest in Missoula, Mt. Now busy writing material for their fourth release, the band welcomed Jamie Ross aboard a year ago and has been drawing on Shiner, Russian Circles, and Breather Resist in their newer songs, says Ryan. We'll be looking forward to it.

Home Base: Omotai practices downtown at Sterrett Street Studios, which Ryan declares to be the least smelly of the last four places they've called home. When it comes time to play, her preference is Rudyard's or Walters because of the intimate environment and warm crowds.



michelleryanbyjamiecano2.jpg
Photo by Jamie Cano
Good War Story: "On the first Omotai tour, after playing in Hollywood, we drove around for ages completely exhausted looking for a hotel, and we ended up an hour or so north of town where the only vacancy was at America's Best Value Inn," Ryan recounts. "So we stayed there and everyone slept like a rock.

The next morning we got up and Sam [guitarist Waters] noticed he had a tick lodged on his chest. Being the avid outdoorsmen we were at the time, we each took turns Googling 'how to remove a tick', trying to 'burn' it off with a lighter in various ways, or tweeze it off like a bunch of clowns. Pretty much doing exactly what you are NOT supposed to do to remove a tick.
We didn't worry too much about it until over the next couple of days, a telltale red, target-shaped rash started appearing on his skin around the tick bite. Two weeks later, when we got home, he went to the doctor, who was delighted to get to diagnose his first case of Lyme Disease. Not to worry, Sam was treated for it quickly and he's free and clear.

So, No. 1, I never stay at America's Best Value Inn, and No. 2, I picked up a proper tick remover from REI and I always take it on tour (along with my other tour-friendly camping gear that my bandmates like to rib me for). It should be noted that I also fell halfway down a dark flight of stairs while carrying drums the day after the tick incident and nearly broke my ankle. Music is a dangerous business.
Music Scene Pet Peeve: "Not a pet peeve, but wishful thinking," opens Ryan. "I think the venues should invest in a backlined Ampeg 8x10, so bassists don't have to keep schlepping their gear around." [Author's Note: As a former singer who helped the bass player carry his rig because of a bad back, can we please make this happen?]

Five Desert Island Discs:
Polvo, In Prism
Yawning Man, Rock Formations
Yo La Tengo, Prisoners of Love
Mastodon, Remission
Smashing Pumpkins, Pisces Iscariot

Best Show You've Ever Seen: "Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds this summer was absolutely one of the best shows I've ever seen," she says. "Earthless kinda blew my doors off when I saw them at SXSW this year at the Thrasher/Converse party, never having heard them before. Polvo downstairs at Fitzgerald's a few years ago. And Fugazi at the International Ballroom in 2002." - Houston Press

Omotai come at you with a barrage of different sounds in their latest offering Fresh Hell. Now, many a band has tried this mixed-genre approach, especially over the last few years- but this, I have to admit, has to be the best to have graced my eardrums. Especially as I’m feeling incredibly picky with what I listen to as of late.

‘Get Your Dead Straight’ starts out good and sludgy (just the way I like it) with a hefty dose of desert/stoner rock to boot. Sam Waters’ vocals stand out because they lie somewhere between the brashness of mathcore and the melody of deep southern rock, alongside glimpses of post-rock riffs and a featherweight-heaviness similar to Cult Of Luna… and this is all just in the first track!

They kick into track 2 ‘Back Office’ with a brash and repetitive riff that screams metallic hardcore, that evolves back and forth at a galloping pace before plummeting into something almost completely different and much more melodic.

By the time you reach ‘Giant Pygmy’ you’ll have heard snippets of Dillinger Escape Plan, Baroness, Kylesa, Baptists, Audrey Horne, Machine Head, Kyuss, Blood Has Been Shed- but at the same time it’s all just reminisce of. Omotai have their own sound that fits into all of the genres, nooks and crannies of heavy music. This is an incredibly explorative record, but is so incredibly comfortable to listen to. At NO POINT do they imitate another band, they’ve brought the wide expanse of metal sub genres together into something incredible. Something utterly their own.

Every track sounds so well developed and each note, beat and riff understood to the point you may be mistaken for having heard it before- it’s not often that you come across something brand new that sounds like it could have been tucked in your music collection for a good ten years. This has EVERYTHING I’m looking for in new music right now- an understanding of where punk/metal is right now, where it has been, where it will go and the process of getting there. It’s not old for old’s sake, and it’s not new for new’s sake. It’s just, spot on.

For a seven track record, it clocks up a good playing time and doesn’t leave you necessarily needing more to it or thinking ‘could have been a couple of tracks longer?’. However, it does make you want to hop on the web immediately to find out as much as you can about their previous material (which I suggest you do). I don’t want to give too much away, more just give a glimpse of what’s in store for when you sit down and listen to this album in full. Please go out and support this band, if anyone deserves to go places, it’s these guys- that’s a definite.

FFO: Sleep, Baptists, Mastodon, Baroness - Echoes and Dust

"Another instance where I was totally blindsided by an enormously intense kamikaze cocktail of technical grandeur. Bought the vinyl don’t even own a record player. It’s that good! An acquired taste for some, but if you are in the game at all, don’t let this one slip past your grizzled ears." - Grip of Delusion

Rarely have I seen an album title as apt as Omotai’s Fresh Hell; and no, not because it’s bad by any stretch of the imagination, but because of the images of menace and dread it conjures up. There’s a weird sense of foreboding you get while listening, like something truly, ineffably horrible is waiting for you, just around the next corner, and it’s going to get you no matter what you do. It’s your destiny, inescapable.

Not only that, but it nicely signifies the trio’s continuing move away from their initial doom-sludge-metal roots and into a wholly different realm. They began the shift on 2012’s Terrestrial Grief, stepping off their previously-tread path of full-on doom-iness to morph into something that’s a whole lot closer to the post-punk realm than anything else.

My first thought, actually, upon hearing the more intricate, thoughtful, almost spacey parts on Fresh Hell, was that Omotai seemed to be veering somewhat over in the direction of bassist/vocalist Melissa Lonchambon Ryan’s old band, Sharks and Sailors; like this “new” Omotai, S&S also took heavy, thundering guitar-rock and melted it down, bending and crafting it into something more twisty and sharp-edged.

As I listened, though, I realized that my initial comparison wasn’t strictly accurate. It’s not that Omotai’s started sounding like Sharks and Sailors, but rather that the two very distinct outfits are/were influenced by some of the same things — specifically, by noisy, prog-tinged post-punk folks like Neurosis and by the more brainy members of the ’90s math-rock crew, like The For Carnation and Don Caballero.

Not that they’ve moved away from the heavy, crush-you-to-the-floor stuff, naturally. “Get Your Dead Straight” is sludgy as hell and so goddamn bassy I couldn’t even really hear it properly on my car stereo ’til I turned on the “ultra bass” mode…at which point my chest caved in (don’t worry, I’m okay now). “Throats of Snakes” is similarly doom-y, but with a proggy twitch to it that brings to mind the twisting, bending-upon-itself guitar work of Mastodon or Kylesa.
Then there’s “Back Office” — it’s a serious left turn for these folks, a screaming, speeding chunk of head-snapping hardcore with some awesomely thrashy guitar, insanely fast rhythms, and Barkmarket-ish bass. Just when you think you know where it’s going, though, it suddenly shifts gears, mutating into something closely resembling spacerock, with a moody, post-punk instrumental vibe to it all.
From there Lonchambon Ryan, drummer/vocalist Anthony Vallejo, and guitarist/vocalist Sam Waters (they’ve since become a foursome, adding new member Jamie Ross) roll through tracks like “Giant Pygmy,” which is seriously Jesus Lizard-like, more noise than metal and collapsing at the end into a messy, scraping, half-psych squall, or “Laser Addict,” which uses this weird phaser effect that makes me actually feel physically woozy (and like it, obviously).

They end up with “We Don’t Have To Be Strangers,” which is twisty and mind-bending, all quasi-dissonant guitars and stutter-stop rhythms that I can’t help but foot-drum along to. Sometimes the music is thoughtful and serene, and sometimes it’s raw and brutal, and you never know what’s coming next.

Throughout the whole of Fresh Hell, Omotai straddle that line, and they do it with a wild-eyed kind of surety, telling you in no uncertain terms that they know what the fuck they’re doing, and you can either grab hold and ride with them or be crushed into dust beneath. Me? I’ll choose the former, in a heartbeat.

- See more at: http://www.spacecityrock.com/2014/02/21/omotai-fresh-hell/#sthash.LRn6EyGa.dpuf - Space City Rock

All bands evolve. Even the ones like Motorhead and AC/DC that some poke fun at for ‘making the same record’ really don’t ever make the same record. Some bands just evolve quicker than others and the musical shifts from one record to the next are slightly more pronounced than others. But if done right, with musical integrity and collective artist vision still intact a jarring shift in musical style can be a refreshing take on a band’s sound. Such is the newest release from Houston’s Omotai.

Omotai has always been a band that prides themselves on taking all the best elements from their collective influences and brewing them together into a unique and profound musical concoction. They’ve built quite a decent following off of appealing to people scattered all over the heavy music map. Their newest effort, Fresh Hell, doesn’t change that. In fact, if anything it will add to the band’s legacy for their ability to craft quality songs out of seemingly spare parts. Picture, if you will, a collective of mad scientists entering a junkyard, pilfering all the best scrap metal, and building this mammoth robot that’s hell bent on annihilating everything in it’s path and you’ve got a decent idea of what Omotai has done on this album.

Album opener, “Get Your Dead Straight”, sets the tone with an absolutely crushing wall of dirty guitars, rumbling bass and rhythmic drums. It’s a sludge-fueled call to arms; a readying for battle as Omotai prepare for complete and total destruction. The entire album though takes a more discordant approach than previous efforts. Tracks like “Giant Pygmy”, for example, call to mind varying levels of noise rock from Unsane to Fugazi to Shellac. Almost completely gone though from this album is the blasting fury that permeated 2012′s Terrestrial Grief album. But fear not, fans of the heavy. Instead Omotai are content to punish listeners with a more enveloping weightiness that groans and plods and bursts like a celestial body going through it’s dying dance, wiping out everything that happens to loop into the same orbit.

As mentioned Omotai’s newest effort will appeal to a wide swath of metal fans. Sludge, doom, noise, stoner/psych rock, there’s a lot going on in these seven tracks and it’s all deliciously crafted. Fresh Hell is officially out on February 18 via The Treaty Oak Collective/The Path less Traveled. You can preview the full album at the Omotai Bandcamp page. - Metal Insider

I texani Omotai si erano presentati col botto nel 2012, dandoci in pasto il gran bel debutto intitolato "Terrestrial Grief", all'interno del quale una sontuosa miscela di sonorità sludge, post, noise, stoner e psichedeliche andava di volta in volta mescolandosi, dando vita a un andamento ritmico pesante, ipnotico e in alcuni tratti quasi schizoide. Dal rilascio di quell'uscita sono trascorsi due anni ed ecco che il trio composto da Melissa Lonchambon (basso e voce), Anthony Vallejo (batteria e voce) e Sam Waters (chitarra e voce) si rigetta nella mischia, mettendoci a disposizione il secondo album "Fresh Hell".

La tipologia di proposta racchiusa in questa prova è similare a quella consegnataci nel recente passato, infatti abbiamo nuovamente a che fare con una mistura eterogenea di generi capace di assecondare l'incedere del pezzo, garantendo alle varie entità sonore che la compongono gli spazi necessari per essere efficaci, sia nei frangenti in cui domina la pesantezza che in quelli dal carattere più agrodolce ed etereo. Le uniche modifiche attuate al modus operandi con cui vengono elargite le loro mazzate sono riscontrabili per lo più nell'impostazione delle melodie, a oggi più ordinate e fluenti nel loro corso, negli ingressi di voce pulita in accompagnamento di Melissa ("Giant Pygmy", "Throat Of Snakes" e "Laser Addict") e in una produzione ancor più professionale e limpida, perfetta nel rendere chiaramente intellegibili i vari fraseggi e cambi di tempo interni alle tracce, permettendo di apprezzare così il buon operato svolto dai tre musicisti.

Il disco non ha di per sé vere e proprie pecche, trovo infatti difficile credere che episodi come "Back Office", "Leglifter" e "Laser Addicts" non riescano ad allietare la giornata di un qualsiasi fan di tante delle band da cui questi ragazzi traggono influenze, alcune delle quali sono state elencate nel testo della recensione di "Terrestrial Grief". Al tempo stesso con il passare del tempo è però possibile rendersi conto del fatto che gli statunitensi, pur non avendo sbagliato nulla, hanno forse tenuto un po' il freno a mano tirato, tant'è che sia gli scatti schizofrenici che quella sorta di entropia noise fautori dell'esplosività del loro suono pare siano stati riformulati e resi volutamente più asciutti, diretti e maggiormente fruibili, perdendo così un pizzico di quel fascino acido che li contraddistingueva.

In definitiva, mi sento di promuovere nuovamente gli sforzi proferiti dagli Omotai: "Fresh Hell" non sarà un capolavoro, ma si fa gustare senza troppi problemi, regalandoci trentatré minuti di buona musica rivolta agli appassionati di questi miscugli sonori; se lo siete, incrociare un lavoro simile non vi potrà di certo dispiacere. Ovviamente dal loro futuro terzo parto mi attendo decisamente di più e mi auguro riescano quantomeno a bissare qualitativamente la prova offertaci con "Terrestrial Grief", quello sì che sarebbe davvero un gran bel colpo. - Aristocrazia Webzine