I just think that Ohms faces the problem of not breaking totally new ground for the band. There are no truly bold steps on this album, to my ears. The synth sounds may be mentioned as one such step, but that seemed to be more of a theme than anything (an allusion to the 80s sound).
I suppose there doesn't need to be any bold steps on an album, but for a band this long in the tooth why NOT? Bold moves are compelling, sonic changes mean growth! For all Gore is, it at least represented a slightly greater attempt at that (even dealing with the same nostalgic vibes in a prototype way).
The album just doesn't have the feeling of progression to me. The songs are there, as solid as most are, but they don't bring coherent direction. Pompeji certainly FEELS like a climax, but the album doesn't seem to earn it-- what is it truly the climax of? Ohms certainly FEELS triumphant, like an epiphany, especially if you listen to it standalone-- but the album doesn't build up to it (as a closing track) the same way White Pony did Pink Maggit, or SNW did Riviere. Headless is my least favorite track, and within the album it also doesn't set the stage for the closer like a penultimate song should (again, think Kimdracula into Riviere and Change into Pink Maggit).
The album comes across to me like it is trying to be cinematic. It wants to have the exposition, the buildup, the climax, and the (in this case triumphant) closer like a movie does. All of this set in some broken, maybe apocalyptical world metaphorical to our own (per the lyrics of Genesis and Ohms). But personally it didn't work for me. It is certainly a cool idea, but the song power just isn't there to back it up. Perhaps a different song order would help, to better re-contextualize the final track, but again the song power isn't there imo. If it was for you, then hell yeah man! This is certainly not a bad album, and if this album is a daily listen for you then that's killer. It just doesn't achieve (to me) what it appears to set out to.
