Despite being a relatively new band (formed in 2014), Californian group Ötzi has a totally recognisable, unique and particular sound… their dark, aggressive, post-punk, accelerated melodies that stick like gum and would make us want to set the dancefloor on fire, has an 80s flavour, with sounds and voices that unequivocally remind us of classics such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Xmal Deutschland, Fangs of Fur, Totenwald or La Peste Negra, but also of more recent bands such as Soviet Soviet, Pawns or The Bellicose Minds.
Their debut album Ghosts (2017) was a blast and the expectations on this second album, Storm, were high… and they haven’t disappointed us. Storm, as its name suggests, is a sonic storm, the storm as a concept in Murakami’s Kafka on the shore: it doesn’t matter how you survived it, or even if it ended, but if anything is certain, it’s that you will never be the same person. It’s the struggle for ourselves. Since May 22nd, we can find Storm on CD, vinyl, and digital formats through Artoffact Records, with a total of 10 tracks that are pure adrenaline.
The album begins with “Moths”, an ideal song to transmit the concept of change, renewal, transformation, and that is a total tribute to “Christine” from Siouxsie and The Banshees, with a hypnotic melody and bass line.
We continue with “Hold Still”, and contrary to the title, it makes you want to do everything but stay still, it’s so great… and watch out for the chorus, totally inspired by the famous “I Melt with You” from Modern English. “Tunnels” is the desolation, the fall before the resurrection, while the exciting “Scorpio” has some frenetic rhythms with which you are sure to move your feet, pure post-punk.
“Ballad of Oiwa”‘s torn and sensual voice contrasts with “Contagious”, in which, given the dynamics of the album, return the vertiginous rhythms. It’s my favourite, without a doubt: is very catchy, powerful and danceable, and equally in their line, are “Eight Cups” and “Outer Bounds”, other club banger and authentic proclamations of self-love and resilience. “15 Stars” has some incredible guitars, the voice is very rock ’n’ roll, and fits perfectly in this theme that differs in style from the rest.
As a final touch to the album, we have “Storm”, the theme of the same name as the album and much more atmospheric and dense than the previous ones, a symbol of the abandonment of the comfort zone and of our world as we know it. There is no doubt that this is a must-have album, very personal, a hymn to self-love and empowerment, with a very original concept, not only of the passage through the storm itself, but of who we have become in the wake of it.
Translation: Joanne Gagnon
