:CD Review: ohGr – unDeveloped

ohGr – unDeveloped
Release Date: May 10, 2011
Label: Metropolis
Website:  http://www.wdihtf.com/

Review by: Tiffany Angeney

ohGr is the project formed by Nivek Ogre, of Skinny Puppy fame, and musician/engineer Mark Walk in 2000.

As a fan of both Skinny Puppy and ohGr, I almost fainted from happiness when I got this CD to review.  unDeveloped opens with “101 Intro” I have to admit I was very surprised when I heard the second song on the album entitled “101”. My first reaction was to look and make sure I had the right CD in. “101” is reminiscent of Old School Skinny Puppy back when they drew very heavy from electro, hip-hop and Martial Industrial. A melodic, dancy beat makes it’s the perfect song for requesting at your local club.

Up next is “crashintro” and “crash”. “crash” opens with clips from the actual 911 call reporting the death of Michael Jackson. Drawing heavy on 80’s style hip-hop and featuring driving pianos and guitars this song is a morbid outlook on the hopeless, doomed state of the world, life and fame. ohGr lets us know there is “Nowhere left to run”.

“pissage” is up next. An almost ethereal opening is disrupted by ohGr’s signature unsettling harsh chanting vocals. The ethereal feel keeps on with haunting strings, harsh guitar bursts and unsettling screams over chanted verses. An almost seamless breathe of quiet takes you into “Comedown” opening with a chilling yet catchy synth line that you will have stuck in your head for weeks. ohGr utilizes the power of his voice full force in this song. The vocals are layered throughout and it adds a depth that isn’t usually featured in an ohGr album.  This is by far one of my favorite song on the album.

“typer” is beautiful mess of distorted sound bytes, the almost annoying clicking of a typewriter and garbled transmission. “Stick to the mainstream” is repeated over and over as well as “do not look behind you” and “who is this”. It’s almost a surreal look into what the future of the world will be like. A bunch of mindless masses forced to believe subliminally in conformity by a controlling government.

“screwMe” is a beautiful almost strange type of a ballad. Old School synth riffs seemingly play a wonderful game with melodic piano line. A melancholy song “Screw me, I like It” is the chorus. I found myself listening to this song about 5 times while feeling the sudden urge to cry. This song is about giving up and giving in and somehow enjoying it. I have to admit this is my favorite song on the album. I never expected to hear such a melodic song from Nivek and I hope he makes more. This song is a brilliant masterpiece.

“bellew” keeps up the old school synth riffs. I couldn’t help but think Nivek drew some inspiration from Gary Numan on this song. It’s a beautiful little number reminiscent of 80’s darkwave and synthpop. “hollow” is next and conjures up the styling of Skinny Puppy way back in the 80’s, back when Bites was released. The sound, of course, is a lot cleaner and better produced and features hypnotic, ethereal, almost trance like beats over Nivek’s signature chanting.

“traGek” had me fooled for a minute. The opening beat is very similar to the riff from “Smothered Hope” and I half expected a dance song. I was happily very wrong. Harmonic vocals over a pounding almost synthpop sounding riff mixed with sparse drums.  This song is like some messed up 80’s pop song. It’s amazing.

“animist” is a slow bass heavy dirge riddled with distortion. “nitwitz” closes out the album. A guitar driven song with distorted vocals and almost militarist riffs during the chorus. I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think ohGr just wrote a semi fucked-up  anthem for our generation. I’m a little scared and excited to see it anyone else thinks so.

Don’t go too far though. If you are patient and wait after “nitwitz” is over and cut through the silence you will treated to a secret track. “Collidoskope” is featured at the end of the album. A beautiful creepy lullaby that features samples at the beginning of voice messages left by early discoverers of the “Collidoskope” site and seemingly some of his fellow cast members from “Repo! The Genetic Opera”. I adore this song and I adored the web game that went along with it. If you don’t know the history of this song please check it out. I’m so happy Nivek featured it on the album.

Buy this album. It’s the album I believe a lot of ohGr and Skinny Puppy fans have been waiting for. I can’t find one flaw in it.

Download unDeveloped from Amazon MP3