Written By Kevin McSweeney
An Outfit Worthy of The Oscars
Quite frankly, this is not what I expect from a progressive rock/metal band.
That most ponderous and self indulgent of subgenres is characterised, in my mind at least, by 20-minute songs in a 7/12 time signature, and that’s not what we’ve got here on this Oscar-worthy offering from Opensight, which is an opus that takes us on a sonic saunter through the realms of cinematic splendour.
The London-based band is not one with whom I have engaged previously. I note with interest that The Outfit – released on May 15th via Inertial Music – is their third full-length album, following on from the 2022’s Mondo Fiction.
I note also that there was a substantial gap between that and their 2008 debut Prosthetic Soul, with no recorded material made available between 2015 and 2021.
Rushing art is like prizing open the petals of a flower, but 14 years is one heck of a gap nonetheless.
They draw comparisons with Faith No More, and I can certainly hear why. It’s a more mature Faith No More with whom they bear comparison, however.
They’re more like the version of the alternative metal icons we encounter on King For a Day, Fool For a Lifetime or Album of The Year, rather than the brash young band that lit up the late 1980s, setting the template for much of the music to follow in the subsequent decade in the process.
Having said that, the cinematic scope of something like A Small Victory from their magnum opus Angel Dust would be very much in keeping with the Opensight modus operandi. That’s more Latin than I ought to be putting in one sentence, quite honestly.
Often, they sound like Ennio Morricone providing a rock soundtrack for a Bond movie, though there are many other big screen allusions to be found on The Outfit, as we’ll discover.
So, grab your popcorn as we skip through the trailers to the main presentation.
The Outfit by Opensight Review
I’m picturing the funeral scene in Live and Let Die during the dark but quirky intro titled Procesión de La Muerte – a scene in which the funeral turns out to be for the hapless Mi6 agent who was very much alive when the procession commenced.
This is one of a number of times 007 will be referred to in this review, so brace yourselves for more Bond later.
I love the way the crunching opening riff of Killer Outfit is augmented by a theatrical horn section, like a darker and heavier version of Pump-era Aerosmith.
This heaviness then gives way to a funky 1970s wah wah riff, shifting from James Bond to John Shaft in an instant.
We have strong melodic hooks throughout the song, which sounds at once overblown and accessible, and structurally conventional, with a sprinkling of those classic cinematic sounds that makes you think an onscreen appearance is imminent from either a suave spy or a black private dick who’s a sex machine to all the chicks.
In Plain Sight begins with a slinky little rimshot-driven bossa nova beat from the fabulously-named Redd Reddington.
It prompts me to imagine elegantly dressed men and women sipping martinis in smoke-filled casinos.
The introduction of the chugging riff and Ivan David Amaya’s club-friendly croon does little to dispel this image.
We have a guitar solo that is well put together and in keeping with the structural integrity of the song, rather than one that is histrionic or onanistic in any way, Some of the guitar tones at the end of the song are pure Bond.
The song structures so far have been thoroughly conventional, and not proggy in the slightest.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more Bond, the opening riff to Defying Eye has me raising my eyebrow like Roger Moore.
Frankly, it could have been performed by Vic Flick. This gives way to something much harder than anything we’ve heard so far.
It sounds like Muse covering Metallica. The title could very easily be a Metallica title, could it not? For all its urbane sophistication, there’s still a section in the song where I could imagine the chants of “Hey!” on the quarter beats led by James Hetfield.
I particularly like the part where the Vic Flick riff returns and duels with a spooky saw sound. There’s a little bit more in the way of shredding in the solo from Neil McLaughlin this time around, but it’s a heavier song, so it calls for it.
Iris (I Rise) is not a recital of a Maya Angelou poem over the tune of the ballad from the City of Angels soundtrack by The Goo Goo Dolls, and more’s the pity.
Instead, we have an intro that echoes Jeff Wayne’s Horsell Common and The Heat Ray from The War of The Worlds, before the song begins in earnest and starts to sound, to my flawed and fanciful ears, like a hard rock version of Van Morrison’s Moondance.
Having said that, there’s a riff in lieu of a chorus that would pass the Beavis and Butthead air guitar test, There’s also some harmonised riffing half way through that is backed by a xylophone (or possibly a glockenspiel. I’m not sure.)
This inevitably reminds me of the Live and Let Die theme by Paul McCartney and Wings. We get something verging on a breakdown towards the end, and I can’t help but appreciate the occasional ratcheting up of the heaviness.
Broken Vow begins with some deep synth notes that make me think it’s going to turn into something like Cubik by 808 State. Instead, we’re back to those Faith No More comparisons.
The similarities to a track like The Gentle Art of Making Enemies are evident, though Amaya’s vocal delivery doesn’t quite have the fricative menace of Mike Patton’s on that underrated track from King for a Day, Fool For a Lifetime.
The harmonised lead guitar followed by the 1960s-style organ solo might be my favourite part of the whole album, though it has tough competition from the double kick-driven ending, which sounds like a Jimmy Webb take on Metallica’s One.
Do I hear an ocarina in the intro to Mantra? Why, that’s the classic sound of the Spaghetti Western, as established by the aforementioned Ennio Morricone.
We also have a bit more of the Vic Flick lead guitar sound over a Noel Gallagher-style strumalong.
It gets a bit more metal shortly thereafter, switching the strum for the chug, but retaining that bold sense of cinematic melody.
We also have a bit more of the Shaft-style wah-wah funk on the verses and a Gene Krupa-style tom tom groove from Reddington, accompanied by the ocarina. It’s non-stop movie madness on Mantra!
Next up is The Director’s Curse – the Director being the shadowy masked figure depicted on the album cover and in the promotional videos pertaining to the album.
I don’t have access to the lyrics, so I’ve avoided going into any detail about him and what he might represent. The song is a short interlude of ominous synths, highlighting the character’s sinister nature.
I would have thought Final Cut would be an obvious choice for the album’s closing track but there’s two more to go afterwards.
Anyway, the intro is a call-and-response segment between the lead guitar and the rest of the band, before they launch into more of the sexy Shaft-style wah-wah funk, underpinned by a fabulously groovy bass line from Duncan Arkley.
There’s something about the plaintive wail of the lead guitar that brings me back to War of The Worlds, however.
Imagine a 1970s African-American detective investigating what the Hell just crashed to Earth in late 19th Century Surrey. It’s that kind of vibe.
The guitar solo is notable for the use of, I think, a talk box. It’s like Pete Frampton covering Santana, only much better than I’ve made it sound.
Heist opens with what sounds like a harpsichord, suggesting we might be about to add comical horror to our list of cinematic delights, but it ends up sounding more like the theme music of a crime drama, possibly starring Jim Belushi.
It’s a gentler affair than previous tracks, not that it’s been a particularly heavy album in general. We get lavish vocal harmonies in the chorus and the return of that spooky saw sound I mentioned earlier, both of which are most welcome.
And now we reach the album’s denouement, in the form of Delusion. It’s notably more sombre than everything that has come before.
One could almost imagine the star of the movie looking forlornly through a window, wondering how it all came to this.
A juddering guitar tone accompanies an uncharacteristically listless vocal from Amaya. With its atmospheric synths and its Chris Rea-style languid lead guitar, it brings to a subdued close an album steeped in cinematic grandeur – one that evokes memories of some of the defining moments of modern movie history.
It mightn’t be the most proggy of progressive metal albums, with its conventional structures and time signatures, but it’s a strong offering from a band that has carved a particular niche for itself, or rather committed it to celluloid. We look forward to the sequel.
Metal Lair awards The Outfit by Opensight four out of five devil horns.
Order The Outfit here.
Track listing:
1. Procesión de La Muerte
2. Killer Outfit
3. In Plain Sight
4. Defying Eye
5. Iris (I Rise)
6. Broken Vow
7. Mantra
8. The Director’s Curse
9. Final Cut
10. Heist
11. Delusion
OPENSIGHT are:
Ivan David Amaya: Vocals, Guitar
Redd Reddington: Drums
Duncan Arkley – Bass & Backing vocals
Neil McLaughlin: Guitar
OPENSIGHT ONLINE
About The Author
Kevin McSweeney is Metal Lair’s resident scribe of the underground, eternally rummaging through the global metal scene for riffs worth your time.
As the guiding hand behind Seven Deadly Songs every Friday, he has an uncanny knack for finding the track you didn’t know you needed, usually before finishing his pint.
Equal parts loyal, kind, and quietly razor-witted, Kevin brings deep knowledge, impeccable taste, and a steady, reliable presence to Metal Lair.
Read More From This Author:
EP Review: The Dark Overlords of The Universe by The Ghoulstars
EP Review: Infected Dead’s Invicta Is Technical Death Metal With Teeth
EP Review: Knowing It Shall Wake by Olympus
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