Adrenaline Mob - Omerta
Adrenaline Mob – Omerta
With ex-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy on drums, master shredder Mike Orlando on guitar, and Russell Allen from Symphony X on vocals (not forgetting Disturbed's John Moyer) you would forgiven for expecting some seriously abstruse prog. However, from the opening bars of Undaunted, Adrenaline Mob make it clear that, while they can probably play at blinding speeds in several different time signatures at once, this is all about the groove.
There are hints of Pantera, Black Label Society and Disturbed on Omerta, but the band have an innate knack for adding infectious hooks to balance the heaviness making the album surprisingly catchy, and Allen's powerful voice gives the band a distinctive sound.
Track two Psychosane is a battle cry, as is track six Feelin' Me, with Allen's bellowing cry of "I'm gonna' stand up and fight, gonna knock out the sky, Cause I don't give a shit!" Third track on the album, Indifferent, is a bittersweet chorus surrounded by chugging rifferama. All On The Line is a more standard power ballad-type of affair. It's not bad, but somewhat generic. It does, however, show Allen's versatility as a vocalist. Track five Hit The Wall is full speed ahead, music to get speeding tickets to, as is number nine Down to The Floor. Also included is Come Undone, a somewhat surprising Duran Duran cover which, even more surprisingly works pretty well. On final track Freight Train the band lose momentum slightly; they are still packing plenty of bounce into their riffs, but it fails to compete with rest of the album.
Judged on the prog-rock/technical pedigree of three quarters of the band, the fact that Adrenaline Mob are such a monstrous groove machine will surprise (and no doubt disappoint) some. Putting aside the individual members' past (and present) endeavours, Omerta is a solid slab of melodic Groove Metal. Let's just hope Mike Portnoy doesn't get bored of this project too soon!