Omnium Gatherum / North American Tour 2023 / Rockhouse Dive Bar Kitchen Venue / El Paso, Texas / 24 March 23

I am unbelievably thankful that things are getting back on track, shows are beginning to stack, 18 in 22 days was what I overheard, music to the ears of this guy, needless to say, I love staying busy and busy we were this past weekend, but first things first, Omnium Gatherum rolled into the Rockhouse Friday night with their North American Tour 2023. If you’re into Finnish Melodic Death Metal, you were in the right place, for me, in the past, I’ve covered a couple of Finnish bands, Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Children of Bodom and my personal favorite was Apocalyptica, so somewhat I knew what to expect, oh yeah, I was in for a treat. The band has been together for 18 years with 9 releases, Orgin being the latest in 2021, it’s safe to say, this tour is in support of that release. On the evenings card as in local support, we had Cthylla, which is fronted by the lovely Laura Chacon and we have Mario Ramos on guitar, Adbriel Ureno on drums and Haran Hernandez on guitar as well. Word around the campfire was this was Cthylla’s first really big show as in opening for a national, well it was my first time seeing them, so in my opinion, I think they did rather well, I look forward to seeing them again, I love following the up and coming. Next on the bill was Prey of the Godz, these guys I’m familiar with, seasoned local musicians and have endured a band name change and lineup changes over the past years, well the dust has settled and the band has come together as one, its true Texas Heavy Metal at its best, new additions on vocals is Adrian Garcia and John Grind on Guitar, founding members are Chelo Styles on Guitar, Rudy Barajas doing the honors on bass and the mighty Charlie Gonzalez on percussion, Charlie is a beast behind the kit, a true journeyman. Omnium Gatherum hit the stage a little after 10pm like an unstoppable rebel force, not to be contained or controlled, Jukka Pelkonen ripped into Frontiers to open the show and that song set the tone for the evening, this 6 piece epic band was intertwining melodic and progressive metal to the point I stopped shooting and was pleasantly surprised right out the gate, some mellow grooves that were smoothing to the mind, relaxing, if you will, every member embraced their performance with abandon and an unbridled passion and in the end, what you get is a tight, energetic and most of all, a fun show. All in all, what a fantastic evening of music and fellowship, isn’t that what it’s all about? Unfortunately, this tour ends tonight in Charlotte, they leave for a European Tour in a couple of months, so hopefully they’ll return to the states at some point, I for one look forward to it.

Set List-

Frontiers

Paragon

Gods Go First

Reckoning

Nail

Rest Your Heart

Tempest

Be The Sky

Ego

The Unknowing Maniac

Luoto