1. Hello please introduce yourselves to the readers?
We are Ominum, a thrash metal three piece from Gothenburg, Sweden, featuring:
Berno: Guitar and Vocals
Erik: Drums
Richard: Bass
2. When did you first discover thrash metal and what is it about this genre that you love so much?
Berno: Pretty much as soon as I started playing guitar when I was around 13-14. I started out because of Rage Against the Machine but within about a year I discovered Metallica and from there I got hooked on old school thrash which also led me to death metal a little later. This era of metal and this sound is just what I gravitate towards and I think it has the perfect mix of speed, heaviness, aggression and technicality.
Richard: For me it was with the band Megadeth around 2009. When I first heard their album Rust in Peace I was absolutely blown away and that was a moment when I had my first thirst for more extreme Metal if you will. After that it was bands like Slayer, Testament and so on.
Erik: I was into heavy metal fairly early as a kid, with Iron Maiden being my favourite band. Eventually one of my classmates showed me Metallica, I think it was from …And Justice For All which really got my attention and led me to explore heavier and faster music. Once I heard Slayer for the first time I simply couldn’t believe that music could be this extreme and sound this good! From that point on there was no going back and I was hooked. While I’ve since developed a taste in a lot of metal-genres other than Thrash, this music will always hold a special place in my heart as it really was the start of my musical journey as a drummer/musician and not just as a music fan.
3. Who were the first bands that caught your attention? Who are some of the current bands that you have been listening to?
Berno: The first few metal bands I got into after Metallica were Slayer, Morbid Angel and Anthrax, with Overkill and Exodus playing a big part as well a little later. After that I became the biggest old school Thrash/early Death Metal nerd and I’ve spent a lot of time listening to most of the classic bands from that era. Recently in the last few years I mostly listen to ‘’the scene’’ when it comes to Metal, and by that I mean the new wave of Thrash/Death bands. A few of the best bands I’ve found in the last while are Inhuman Condition, Schizophrenia, Inculter, Annihilation Process, Exul, Intent and Assault to name a few.
Richard: Megadeth, Testament, Conflagrator, Exodus, were bands that I think I started to listen to. But now I listen to so many other ones: Sodom, Violator, Schizophrenia, Kreator and Forbidden just to name a few. I’ve recently found a local thrash band called Warfect which I really like!
Erik: Like I mentioned already, I was a big fan of Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Slayer in my early teens. I had a thirst for more extreme music however, and soon found myself getting into Death Metal bands with Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel being two of the most influential on me both as a metal fan and as a musician. My musical interests have always been very broad and I’ve listened to tons of music throughout the years, metal and non-metal. Lately, I have been hyper-focusing on Meshuggah, as I find their music super interesting and engaging as a drummer. Other than that, I have had a bit of a Death Metal resurgence, going back to a lot of bands that I listened to in my youth and some that I simply never got around listening to. This has coincided with the current direction of the band to be more extreme, in part by incorporating more Death Metal elements into our song writing and sound.
4.When did you first meet the other members of the band and was it long before you all started Ominum? How did you all choose Ominum as the name for the band?
Erik and Berno have been friends since early elementary school and started playing music together when they were 13-14 years old, eventually playing together in a band called In Sanity a few years later. Back then there weren’t many youth thrash metal bands in the Gothenburg area, so naturally, us and the other people into this kind of music met at shows and hung out together. It was during this time we first met Richard, at the time playing bass in Sonic Assault and we’ve all known each other since then. In Sanity broke up in 2012 and around 2014 Erik and Berno were the two members of that band who started jamming together again. We tried a few other people out for bass and vocals but nobody fit in enough to join full time. Things weren’t as serious until we released a demo in 2018 and started recording our debut album pretty immediately after that. It was also during this time that we settled on the name Ominum for the band, which is something we came up with after a long period of thinking of different names. For the first few years our Facebook page was called Shaytan, but this was always just meant as a placeholder and not a serious band name. Some early ideas were Psychosis and Monument, which eventually became song and album titles instead. When the time came around to record the bass for the first album, Richard was an obvious choice given his excellent talents. He initially did it as a favour to us and apparently he wasn’t sick and tired of us even after all the recording and so decided to join the band as a full member. It was also during this time we settled on Berno doing the vocals after a period of trying to find a singer between the demo and the album, completing our line-up as a trio.
5. Who would you say are the bands biggest influences and have they stayed the same over the years? For the readers who have never heard Ominum's music, how would you best describe it?
The core influences are definitely the old school bands that we all started out listening to, but all of us listen to so much more music both within and outside of Metal, which in one way or another creeps its way into our playing, songwriting and sound. We’d describe our music as a modern take on the golden era of thrash metal focusing on heaviness and interesting songwriting, with a bunch of other influences sprinkled in.
6. War For Peace is the band's newest EP that was released through Witches Brew Rec. When did you and the band first come in contact with this great label?
We came in contact with Witches Brew in 2022 when we released our debut album Monument on CD through the label. It was a success so it was really a no-brainer to work with Cheryl and her label again for this EP when it was time to do a CD version of it.
7. How long did it take the band to write the music on War For Peace? Does the whole band take part in the writing process or does one member usually write everything?
We tend to sit around on riffs for a long time and some of the parts on this EP are already almost 10 years old, but the majority of the music was written between 2018 to 2020. For our debut album and this EP most of the music has been written and preliminarily arranged by Berno, which we’ve then worked on to finalise together. The songs don’t really click and become what they are until we’ve all worked on the material for a while and added our own personal flair to the parts. The songs also become even better when they’re already recorded and we start playing them live. Since this summer we’ve started working on the next album and this time we’re making a conscious effort to write most of the music together in the rehearsal space from the start.
8. Where do you all draw inspiration for the lyrics and what are some subjects written about on the new release?
We try to write about subjects that interest us and give some kind of commentary on it. Mostly it’s social issues, war, injustice and other man made horrors but we also have a few songs dealing with more personal or sensitive topics if you want to call it that. For example our song Epitaph deals with loss.
9. Has Ominum had the chance to play very many live shows over the years? What have been some of the bands most memorable shows over the years? Who are some bands you all have shared the stage with?
Unfortunately we haven’t played live as much as we would have liked. We spent a lot of time before and during the pandemic writing and recording the album and the EP and during almost all of that time the band only consisted of Berno and Erik. It wasn’t until Richard joined the band and the pandemic was over that we could start focusing on booking shows with our first being in early 2023 at our favourite local metal bar, the legendary The Abyss here in Gothenburg. We’ve managed to play there a few more times since and have also had a few very good shows in Stockholm. Some cool bands we’ve played with are Eradikated, Sonic Assault, Swartzheim and Ravened to name a few.
10. Are there any shows or tours planned in support of War For Peace? If yes, where will the band be playing?
We have two more shows coming up in Gothenburg at venues we haven’t played before which we are looking forward to, one to close out this year and another to start the next one off. Other than that we are planning a few shows for next year and it looks like we’ll be more active than ever in more cities around Sweden at least. No tour or anything outside of Sweden is planned as of yet but we’d love to be able to get out and play anywhere and everywhere as soon as possible!
11. Ominum comes out of Sweden's thrash metal scene. What are your thoughts on Sweden's thrash scene over the years?
We’ve been in the scene here in one way or another since we started and it’s definitely gotten better since then. When we started out Metalcore was the most popular thing which we definitely weren’t happy with as edgy teenagers, and Swedish-style Death Metal has always been bigger here than the kind of Metal we like. There’s always been good Thrash Metal bands here though. We have to shout out Conflagrator from back in the day, who absolutely schooled the rest of us in the same age on how Thrash Metal should be played, but sadly they’re not active anymore. Some other cool bands we’d like to mention, both active and inactive are Warfect, Tyranex, Immaculate and Paranorm to name a few. At the moment there’s also quite an active and successful resurgence of bands a few years younger than us playing this kind of music, with Eradikated, Eternal Evil, Sarcator and Bloodstain being out on a Swedish tour at the moment. Finally, we can’t talk about Thrash Metal in Scandinavia without mentioning Tantara from Norway. They’re unfortunately not active anymore but their debut album is probably the biggest and best thing in New Wave Thrash to come out of this whole northern area.
12. Who are your all-time favourite Swedish Thrash bands? Are there any new bands that you could recommend to the readers?
Mostly the bands we mentioned during the previous question.
13. Besides working in Ominum do any of the members currently work with any other bands or solo projects? If yes please tell the readers a little about them?
Richard: I’m a full time member for the melodic metal band Art Nation and also bassist for the symphonic metal project named Medusian. I play bass guitar in both of these projects.
Berno: No, this is the only thing I’ve got going on music-wise.
Erik: I also play drums for the Technical Thrash Metal band Sonic Assault. We have released one full-length concept album that’s got quite a different sound to Ominum, incorporating a lot of influences from other extreme metal genres, but with a style that is still rooted in Thrash Metal. It is unsure if the Thrash sound will stay in any future releases but our debut album is highly recommended and honestly a must for fans of Thrash Metal bands such as Vektor! I also have a hardcore project together with one of the members from Sonic Assault that will hopefully make its way into the public eye sometime early next year…
14.When you need to take a break from working on new music or band business what do you like to do in your free time?
Berno: I try to work out as much as possible and spend as much time with friends and family as I can.
Richard: I absolutely enjoy gaming when I have some down time, both console and PC. I also enjoy visiting historical places whenever I travel or just around Gothenburg/Sweden.
Erik: Right now, I don’t have a lot of free time as I’m studying at University and working part-time alongside my musical projects. I try to be active when I can, working out and going on walks in nature. I also keep quite a few plants at home to tend to which I guess has become more and more of a hobby. Whatever time I have leftover I usually try to spend with my family and friends.
15.Thank you for taking the time to fill this interview out. Do you have any final comments for the readers?
Thank you for having us! To the readers: if you like our music and want to support us the easiest thing you can do is to tell a friend or simply follow/like/subscribe to us everywhere. If you want to go the extra mile you can pick up a CD or some merch and we’d love to see you at a show if we’re in your area. To everyone who already does or has done any of this, thank you so much! Ominum https://ominumthrash.bandcamp.com/music https://www.facebook.com/OminumThrash https://www.instagram.com/ominumband/ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO9OD7yyPo5aUjV8g3ffLXA Witches Brew Rec. https://witchesbrew.eu/ https://witchesbrewthrashes.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/witchesbrewthrashes https://www.youtube.com/user/WitchesBrewThrashes
