OSI - Fire Make Thunder

The progressive super-duo's 2012 release sees the two principal members' talents woven together more effectively than since their debut, marrying thick, groovy riffs with excellent atmospherics and lyrics

Quietly plugging away on the fringes of the progressive scene, OSI have operated like a modern-day Alan Parsons Project with a revolving cast of guest musicians adding their weight to the vision of the main drivers of the project -- Kevin Moore and Jim Matheos. Characterized by a bizarre back and forth between the more subdued electronic inclinations of Moore against Matheos' fat riffs and industrial/grunge tones, the quality level of OSI albums resembles that of smoothies: the best of them smoothly blend these disparate styles together so that removing just one of the two can't be done. Likewise, the lesser records tend to be chunkier and less free-flowing -- you can distinctly identify which songs are Moore's and which are Matheos'. Releasing in 2012, Fire Make Thunder is not particularly new - but it may very well be OSI's last album. More importantly, it's the perfect smoothie blend of the two figureheads' respective styles and the best thing they've done since their debut release.

The disc starts off strong with one of the group's better straight forward metal tunes in "Cold Call", delivering a forcefully repetitive riff that feels groovy as well as robotic, and is a perfectly solid opener that continues into the follow-up track "Guards", which displays a bit more of the group's progressive bent. Fire Make Thunder doesn't really start to click until mid-album instrumental "Enemy Prayer" shows up, however, as the boys lay down a fierce instrumental that rivals trademark "how to write a good instrumental" example "Sirius" for brevity and hooky songwriting (hint: the out-of-nowhere guitar crescendo at 4:00 and Gavin's in general on this album are both amazing)  before bringing things back to a somber mood with the evocative "Wind Won't Howl". The rest of the album, "Big Chief II" and "For Nothing", are excellent -- the former seems almost too catchy to be a Kevin Moore song, whereas the latter reaffirms the somber mood found throughout the disc. It's with the darkly winding river of closer "Invisible Men" that Fire Make Thunder reaches it's zenith incorporating an almost David Lynch-esque atmosphere with some not so subtle Pink Floyd references that close the book on the most cohesive and well-written collection of songs the band has ever put out. Despite it's gloomy aura, what's really sad about Fire Make Thunder is the possibility that OSI never delivers a follow-up.