Crawling from the depths of Detroit, Michigan and featuring members of the killer speed-metal punk outfit JAIL, O.N.I. has chosen more of the blackened metal / lo-fi crust route of infusing metal into punk. This debut demo features six songs of rudderless, meandering riffs with verses and choruses flowing together into a bit of an amorphous blob. It is certainly dark and it is certainly brooding, which is a huge portion of what this style standardly shoots for. The demo feels somewhat bland after I had just spent the weekend at “Varning from Montreal” festival, where d-beat warriors from around the globe converge, angrily shaking their fists to well-organized auditory brutality. O.N.I. features dual vocalists, one higher-pitch shrieking ghoul, and one boomingly hulkish low rumble. There is the occasional interesting simple squealing guitar solo and wild drum fill peppered throughout the tape which instantly commands your attention. 

At this point I’m quite certain if I encountered an Oni in real life – be it the demon from Japanese folklore, or an “OPPORTUNE NUCLEAR IMPOSITION” which this acronym is referring to, I would have a much stronger emotional reaction than the one I had while listening to this demo.

The band uses imagery of the Japanese Oni mask on the back panel of the j-card as well as on the tape itself. This has the opportunity to be quite bone-chilling, but the effect is lost due to the artistic choice of inverting art so that it can be printed on a black background. The cool demonic face with horns and fangs looming overtop of an expanding mushroom cloud explosion, ends up looking more like black metal corpse paint face blossoming over top of a lovely blooming flower. 

All in all, there are a lot of things to like about this O.N.I. tape. The packaging and tapes look very slick and professionally done, and had they not inverted the aforementioned aspects of the art it would look gorgeous. There’s also a whole lot that I respect about a band recording and mixing things themselves. In a world where everything feels like it’s mastered by the same guy, I appreciate a little variety, and the idea of a band actually being hands on with that process is always commendable. That being said, I would certainly have had some tips if I were in the room during this recording and mixing process, as a few of the songs have completely buried the drums in the slush.

Label: Hardcore Psychedelia

Band: O.N.I.