Album Review: This Morn' Omina - The Roots Of Saraswati -

Music is of course one of my greatest passions as it speak to my soul and in an ever more concrete and digitalised world, it is harder to connect with that 'soul'. The Roots Of Saraswati album art's depiction of cyber connections flowing in to natural roots is a concept I think most of us can connect with. For those of us who find solace in the living history of Heilung and Wardruna, we also find just as much solace in the electronic rhythms of industrial music and the sense of tribal and clan like community we feel when listening to these juxtapositions of expressive sound in our alternative community.

So it was that iVardensphere brought tribal drumming to industrial; Now Scott Fox who is the central part of iVardensphere has added his talent to This Morn' Omina. The ritualistic and tribal story telling has added so many layers of depth and proceeded to further blur the lines between the electronic science fiction of music we find ourselves surrounded by and the music of nature and soul that our ancestors have played out for millennia. Just like those roots or branches of a tree, my tastes in music are just as varied and far reaching. With this album I can say for certain.. My soul is drinking deep from this entrancing journey.

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With "The Roots of Saraswati", This Morn' Omina add a new, dark facet to their already impressive catalogue. The latest album by the Belgian tribal industrial pioneers can be seen both as a continuation of their previous work as well as a welcome expansion of their stylistic palette.

The broadening of their musical horizon is partly due to Karolus Leroq having been replaced by iVardensphere drummer and electro-musician Scott Fox. The Canadian from Edmonton arrived with new sound elements in his bag when he joined This Morn' Omina. This line-up change resulted in the current tracks offering an increased compositional depth and a darker atmosphere compared to the previous album "Kundalini Rising" (2017).

The organic structures of the current songs put more emphasis on the tribal heart of the Belgians, while their psychedelic trance influences shining through on their previous albums have been audibly trimmed back. The extremely well-honed production of "The Roots of Saraswati" seamlessly blends driving atmospheric electronics with organic percussion, which will also prick up listeners' ears.