OvO – Creatura CD Review
12th January 2017Well I was told that their is an album that might be right up my alley and would I like to review it? Well being the dedicated reviewer I am, I took on the challenge of reviewing the latest release from OvO (however as beginning to think they don’t like me at AATR)
Well OvO are an Italian duo and have released 7 albums prior to this release. From what I can find about the release ‘Creatura‘ is that it is an avant-garde ‘masterpiece’. When I see avant-garde mentioned in a bands description of a release it usually fills me with dread. You have the dilemma of whether the artists are geniuses or can’t write a decent song and just break/bend/destroy the mould of song writing just so they can say they have written a song?!?! Now before the cries of Philistine are thrown at me, some avant-garde releases have been masterpieces (Arcturus ‘La Masquerade Infernale’, Sigh ‘Hail Horror Hail’, Solefald ‘The Linear Scaffold’, Mr Bungle ‘Mr Bungle’ and any Neurosis release and the list continues!), however OvO ‘Creatura‘ is nowhere near these standards.
With this release OvO seem to have wanted to create a release that is musically and mentally abusing…is this all just a joke or do they think they are breaking boundaries and reeducating the masses?
Each ‘song’ seems like a collection of the most irritating noises they could create/produce/find and thrown together with vocalist Stefania Pedretti wailing like a banshee in considerable pain! Now I love a good female vocalist and don’t mind the ball crushing shrieks some produce or the angst in their voices. However these “shrieks of angst” are so off key and high pitched that they were more ear splitting and headache inducing than a newborn baby cries of despair! In short the vocals are some of the worse I’ve ever heard and that takes some doing!
The industrial tinged music OvO produce can only be described as Alec Empire, Misery Love Co, Mad Capsule Market, Atari Teenage Riot etc mixed together and the mixture thrown against a wall and the resulting mixture that falls to the floor is the birth of OvO…
To be fair the most surprising thing about this release is that the drums are actually played by Bruno Dorella (who is talented), however the distortion and synthetic added to the drums makes them some programmed. Maybe if the drums were left ‘organic’ and untouched on some songs then they might be more bearable?!?! I think purgatory would be to listen to this album repeatedly, I am proud of myself of getting through this release twice in full at each listen! If you are into sadomasochism or asphyxiation during sex then this could well be the soundtrack to your “sessions”…
OvO must be doing something right though as previously mentioned this is there 8th album and they must have a following that are willing to part with their cash. If you are looking for some avant-garde releases then check out the albums I mentioned earlier, if noise is what you are after then check out Merzbow and especially the 90s era grind/death period (or any Japanoise band over this!)
Score – 2/10
OvO CREATURA ALBUM INFO
Tracklist:
1. Satanam
2. Eternal Freak
3. Creatura
4. Matriarcale
5. Zombie Stomp
6. Buco Nero
7. Buco Bianco
8. Immondo
9. Freakout
10. Bell’s Hells
11. March Of The Freaks
Record Label:
Dio Drone
Release Date:
9th December 2016
