Question: When is an hour not an hour?Answer: When you’re listening to Omniscience — the new album from Portuguese Melodic Death Metal outfit Godark.
What could have easily been a futile, self-indulgent exercise in musical wankery — the kind of bloated, overly “conceptual” record that collapses under the weight of its own importance — is instead a testament to six musicians locked into one another like a well-oiled machine. These songs don’t just flow; they breathe, they move. Even when they stretch past the five- or six-minute mark, they never feel like they’re dragging you through unnecessary filler. Every section, every shift, every melodic swell feels earned.
There’s a remarkable cohesion in Omniscience. The triple – yes, triple – guitars weave intricate patterns that dance between sharp, surgical precision and grand melodic arcs that could easily have been written by a band twice their years. The rhythm section is tight and muscular — the drums in particular offering a blend of technical prowess and primal propulsion that keeps the entire structure moving forward with volcanic intent.
Vocally, there’s depth and conviction. The growls are deep but decipherable, the roars grounded in emotion rather than empty aggression. It’s that balance — the blending of rage and reflection — that elevates Omniscience beyond mere genre exercise and into something genuinely powerful.
Godark seem to understand that Melodic Death Metal isn’t just about putting melody over blast beats — it’s about harnessing feeling within the chaos, threading melody through the violence without losing the darkness that gives it all meaning. They channel that duality perfectly. There’s grandeur here, but never at the expense of soul.
If you want reference points, think mid-era Hypocrisy meeting early Insomnium, with the occasional nod to the grandiosity of Be’lakor — but always with a distinctly Portuguese melancholy seeping through the cracks.
By the time the Land of Insane ends, you realise that what felt like the blibk of an eye has somehow been an hour. Time dissolves in Omniscience. It’s immersive, hypnotic, and crafted with enough intelligence and restraint to keep you anchored even in its most sprawling moments.
Omniscience is available November 5th (my birthday, if anyone fancies buy me a t-shirt) via the Godark Bandcamp page.
CHOICE CUT: Frozen in Time
BLACK METAL ARCHIVES VERDICT: Omniscience is a rare thing — a long Melodic Death Metal record that never overstays its welcome. Godark have managed to turn complexity into clarity, technicality into atmosphere, and melody into pure force. It’s intelligent, dark, and full of life — proof that the flame still burns bright in Portugal’s Death Metal Underground.
