A progressive metal concept album in six-parts by the Greek multi-instrumentalist Olivia Hadjiioannou.

“If you put Kate Bush, Auf Der Maur, Ayreon, Chiasmata, Igorrr, old White Zombie and Amogh Symphony in a blender with several metronomes running different time signatures, add a healthy dash of thrash riffs to the proggy mix and baked the resulting mixture for several hours you probably wouldn’t even come close to the sound.” – Lee Davidson – Prog Metal Madness

RELEASE DATE: July 27, 2018

Metallia

I. Red Lion (4:30)
II. Bee (5:08)
III. Androgyny (3:21)
IV. Resurrection (3:56)
V. Dragon’s Kiss (5:03)
VI. Triumph (3:24)

Instruments: Oh.
ELECTRIC GUITARS, ACOUSTIC GUITARS, VOCALS, DRUMS, VIOLIN, KEYBOARDS, BASS

Composer: Oh.
Mixing & Mastering: Oh.

Recording Location: Greece

Available on Bandcamp

Here’s what some early reviewers say about ‘Metallia’:

“If you put Kate Bush, Auf Der Maur, Ayreon, Chiasmata, Igorrr, old White Zombie and Amogh Symphony in a blender with several metronomes running different time signatures, add a healthy dash of thrash riffs to the proggy mix and baked the resulting mixture for several hours you probably wouldn’t even come close to the sound.”~ Lee Davidson – Prog Metal Madness

“This is not a garrulous display of technique. There is inspiration, delineations, intense vision, to the point of fever pitch chaos, which will delight the “metal” senses and is altogether a monumental showcase. The girl seems to have more riff in her, than half the Greek heavy metal scene of the past 10 years. ” ~ “Pan Pap” – Rocktime.gr

It’s still a mystery to me, how a young lady like Olivia can invent, perform, and produce such a gorgeous piece of musical art. I suppose she got somehow a blessing from the forgotten gods of Olympus… No, really. It’s a wonderfully creative and inventive EP which sounds much more substantial and thought-provoking than many recordings from well-known grandees of modern instrumental Prog-Metal. ~ Igor Gorely – R.A.I.G. Records (Progarchives)

‘Metallia’ is what it is, not music for fragile souls but an evanescent storm of instrumental music (the voice being used not for words, but as sound) that will suit the enthusiast of powerful, progressive and experimental music.” ~ Rinco Ennema ~ Rock Affairs

“Do you get bored quickly by the standard prog metal music offer? that will not happen to you with ‘Metallia’! ~ Herman Beunk – Xymphonia

“Oh wow! What the bloody hell’s going on here then? Freshness. Uniqueness. Boldness. An outlier! Call it what you like, but this is anything but your typical run of the mill, bog standard, meat and potatoes, vanilla-like metal.” ~ K-MaNriffs – Blessed Altar Zine

“Chaos becomes order, the mind blowing ‘Metallia’ by Oh. ~ Martin Hutchinson – Progradar

An interesting well thought out project from a talented-mult-instrumentalist ~ Geoff Penn – Progplanet

“Cacophonous, complex, illustrative, dense, awash in radiance, terrifying, challenging- all of it driven by the taut, ferocious guitar work and instrumental mastery demonstrated by Ms. H. Waves of feminine choral sounds weave in and out of the tapestry, washes of intensity rarely relenting, leading me to recall why at one point in my younger days I was strongly drawn to consider using psychedelic drugs. Mind expansion, spirit expansion. Transcendence. Enlightenment. ~ Stephen Conrad – Progressive Rock Fanatics–Progarchives

After some interrogations the EP grows on you, which gives us music in a little different vintage, so for the curious, just release the handbrake and discover! ~ Conny Myrberg – Artrock.se

Metallia has already drawn the attention of progressive circles, but they have yet to analyze the enigmatic, versatile, bold, suspiciously attractive style of its music.This is one of those circumstances where you think you have heard something similar before, but you can not parallel it with something recognizable. Her material sounds “metallized”, adventurous, and has a cinematic affinity. Above all, however, the sound is disruptive, the vocal injections arouse this impact. Clearly interesting, in a sense, it could be co-production of Shrapnel and 4AD. Check it out. ~ George Politopoulos – Flight of Pegasus

Listening to Metallia, expect to be unexpected. Nothing is obvious here, nothing sounds as you would expect, and surprise is surprising. ~ Artur Chachlowski – MLWZ

I. Red Lion

The sonic journey begins with the fiery “Red Lion”. Dazzling, dynamic prog-metal guitar solos amidst the haunting ancient rhythm of a bewitching toumperleki, groovy bass lines and eerie portentous vocals set the musical sojourner on his quest from the Prima materia to the creation of the Magnum Opus.

II. Bee

An acoustic flamingo based guitar introduces an abstruse beat forged from multi-layered vocals which lead to frenetic harmonic guitar solos shifting in time-twisting riffs collecting the delirium of the mind-matter and as a “Bee” transforming it to spiritual gold.

III. Androgyny

An ominous ethereal chorus introduces the stage of “Androgyny” – one’s conquest over duality. An ironic, menacing and taunting riff incites the seeker, as a celestial chorus awakens the hero on his journey. The blossoming of a self-expressive electric guitar meets the forces of inertia, apathy and the oblivion of nothingness. The unsteady hero though rises from the emptiness with a twisted, spiralling enraptured guitar solo as the celestial beings rejoice.

IV. Resurrection

Undulating beats and transparent steely violins proclaim the entrance into mastery in “Resurrection”. A rock guitar reels in ecstatic head-banging measures leading to an explosive, exuberant climax of tempo-shifting multi-instrumental solos.

V. Dragon’s Kiss

Kissed by the Dragon but not dissolved by it. “Dragon’s Kiss” is an epic propulsive build of percussion, guttural and lilting vocals, riffing electric guitars, fantastical violins, grooving bass lines and furious drums traversing dark sonic landscapes and imagery.

VI. Triumph

Delirious high pitched screaming vocals celebrate the “Triumph”. Finger-twisting guitar riffs soar in multi-layered sonic solos while a distorted demoniac guitar propels a spellbinding bass and drums to the ultimate state of immutability.

We all want to have answers to the ultimate meaning of why we are here. There’s a time when you need to set aside everything you already know.

We collect experiences and impressions with our minds and this increases the presence of our soul.

There is a duality not only without but within because the mind receives information from both the body and the spirit.

If the connection is weak between the spirit and the mind – there is no possibility to see the whole or our state and place in existence.

Our minds – our everyday consciousness is cluttered with judgements, repetition, echoes of apprehension and fear, debates and doubts. If left on its own without the guidance of spirit; we exist in a negative world, alienated, in conflict with reality.

Let’s isolate the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are produced by the physical body first. Then we can isolate the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that are given by our spirits and be restored to our primal state of awareness.

Here is where Metallia comes in…

Metallia is purely for your mind. It attacks your judgements and expectations. It is an alchemical journey transmuting the base metal of your mind to gold.

This instrumental progressive metal concept album is a six-part journey to extract from your mind pure visions, to mend your mental pictures, preen presumptions and to elicit an element of the unexpected…. because that is what will transmute your subliminal mind map into a remarkable blueprint which will lead you from wherever you are now, to wherever you want to be.

The Greek beauty Olivia Hadjiioannou makes under the name Oh. (with point, indeed) progressive metal-compositions that she plays entirely on her own. In addition, the guitar is her most important instrument, but she also supplies her extremely packed arrangements with multi-layered vocals (where the voice is used as an instrument and thus not the words), violin, piano, bass, drums and percussion.

She released a few EPs, singles and an album since 2013.

Her latest release is again an EP, entitled “Metallia” (without a c, indeed). In the six compositions, the combining of instrument layers and music styles in six extremely concentrated packages has become art. This raises especially the observation that it is very well done, but the EP (no longer than 25 minutes) listen in its entirety leaves you completely consumed.

The most accessible track is, very clever, placed at the beginning. Chopping metal guitars, a funky bass rhythm and harmoniously in the background sounding singing choir are the most striking ingredients, but the fullness of the whole guarantees that professional listening brings out more details. Do you get bored quickly by the average (progmetal) music offer, that will not happen to you at “Metallia”! – Herman Beunk – Xymphonia

“The first number immediately kicks ass. ‘Red Lion’ is a powerful song that uses traditional instruments such as guitars, drums, violins and bass, but also a toumperleki (also called ‘goblin drum’) is used. In addition, the voice of Olivia can be heard, not singing but her voice ‘playing’. There is a nice rhythm in this song, a beech festival where you quickly feel at home.

‘Bee’ starts a little quieter but do not be mistaken in the inner strength that is about to be released. With sufficient volume from the speakers this is a treacherous hypnotic musical sculpture. Delightful riffs and teasing strokes on the guitar create a tension field that is abruptly canceled when the song stops.

‘Androgyny’ would tell the story of a person who has divided thoughts but later comes into balance and experiences unity by constantly wondering whether his / her reflections are correct. So far the intellectual. In addition, it is just a seriously fine piece of music to listen to, the “yeah’s” of Olivia are ointment to the ears.

‘Ressurection’ then. A track that states that the person in question has become what he / she always was, but never knew. Master of the spiritual and physical world. A number in which is being experimented with drums and that comes out fine.

What then happens is the middle between a ritual Indian song and the expulsion of demons. In ‘Dragon Kiss’ a lot of guttural sounds are produced and the voice is used to express emotions that can be emphasized with normal instruments, in a trance-generating way.

That the voice is an important factor on this newcomer from Oh. is very clear in the last song ‘Triumph’. Actually, this song connects seamlessly with ‘Dragon Kiss’, the passion splashes off. Nice ending of this, again too short, CD of Oh.

‘Metallia’ is what it is, not music for fragile souls but a short-lived storm of instrumental music (since the voice is not used for words, but for sounds) that will suit the enthusiast of powerful, progressive and experimental music.” – By Rinco Ennema ~ Rock Affairs

Many believe our journey through life is a series of events. Each event leading to a totally new experience . There is a misconception that our progress is linear but in fact it is more a spiral. Events repeat themselves. We move back and forth over repeating archetypal events with various variations, until “we get it”. That’s why history repeats itself, why we find ourselves over and over again in the same types of relationships and situations. We watch the same plots repeat in the movies we watch, the books we read, the songs we sing and the experiences we share with our friends and family in our lives. We never tire of being entertained by these themes, because we ourselves are also repeating them.

“As Above, So Below” is a phrase attributed to Greek writer-god Hermes Trismegistus, “thrice-greatest Hermes” – three times great because he knew the three parts of the wisdom of the whole universe, the three parts were alchemy, astrology, and theurgy – which is to invoke the presence of gods or divine spirits through rituals such as music to achieve henosis (uniting with the divine) and perfecting oneself, become united with our higher counterparts and attaining Divine Consciousness.

The phrase means what happens on one level of reality also happens on the other. The macrocosm and the microcosm reflect each other. In Christianity it means “As it is in heaven, so it shall be on earth.”

It means everything is sacred and sympathetic. But, there is a misconception that on our present spiritual journey, we begin as mere material mortals and then finally are resurrected to an all-knowing spiritual being in some final boring blissful state of being. Some goal to be achieved and that’s it. The same misconception exists in our lives. We believe if we achieve some random goal, that we will reach an end of our journey and then we can rest. We are driven through our lives unconsciously to achieve something. It is misunderstanding caused by an unexamined life.

The album, Metallia explore this and reveals an overlooked detail, a missing step. There are six songs, Red Lion (prima materia), Bee (nigredo), Androgyny (albedo), Resurrection (rubedo) , Dragon’s Kiss (citrinitas) and Triumph (Lapis Philosophorum), that relate to some of the processes in alchemy which is part of the wisdom of the universe. Metallia focuses on alchemy but not in the sense of changing physical lead into physical gold but as an investigation into what is our true spiritual constitution through experiencing the mysteries of birth, mind, duality, death and resurrection.

We didn’t come to Earth to be resurrected into a spiritual consciousness in order to leave this level of existence, but rather we came to earth to have experience here while we are realized. That is when the true journey begins here on Earth. Metallia makes the point that we can’t even begin our journey until we “recover” our initial self – the one we were born with, before it was “darkened” on this Earth plane. The music in each song is purposefully composed to take you on this journey – to remind you of your true origin (Red Lion), throw off the noise in your mind (Bee), find balance in duality (Androgyny), become what you have always been (Resurrection), given wings from the jewels of the unconscious (Dragon’s Kiss) and finally finding that seemingly immaterial substance that pervades all life (Triumph).

Read more about each song on Metallia by Oh. by clicking the images below