I have always enjoyed encounters with Finns Omnium Gatherum. A check through my records found a review of their 2018 album The Burning Cold, which I recall was one of the highlights of that year. Their blend of crushing Melodic Death Metal is one I enjoy immensely, and album number ten, May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way, is no exception.
Omnium Gatherum – May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way
Release Date: 7 November 2025
Words: Paul Hutchings
In fact May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way is an absolute stormer. And whilst we rarely give stinking reviews here at MetalTalk, I am all in favour of calling a turd a turd, if the need arises. However, there is absolutely nothing within the 40+ minutes of dynamic Melodic Death Metal that ever suggested this album was going to be anything less than superb. 
It may be less polished than Origin, their last album released in 2021, but that adds to the excitement. The riffs are thickly carved, the solos razor sharp, and the vocals demonstrate how to deliver both clean and harsh styles.
It may also be no surprise to read that Soilwork’s Bjorn ‘Speed’ Strid was involved, the Swede co-producing the vocals and adding his own power to the gang shouts on the record. He also added his coaching expertise to the process, as both vocalist Jukka Pelkonen and Markus Vanhala (clean vocals) confirm. “He was supportive, sharp, and full of great ideas—exactly the collaborator we needed.”
The more I play this release, the better it gets. The title track is an intro of under two minutes duration, but by God does it get the heart soaring.
Blending the best of a band who have been going for close to three decades, it is a blistering statement of triumph and defiance. If it doesn’t get your heart swelling, just over that quick burst, you really should not be reading a Metal site.
And it just improves from the opening. There is the crunching power of My Pain, which sees Pelkonen’s gruff vocals rage in controlled fashion as he rides above the swirling mix of melody and Atte Pesonen’s pummelling, driving drumming. With the addition of Vanhala’s cleans, it is an incredibly strong start.
The song title is something to smile at. Found from a slogan on a sweatshirt in a Chinese airport, the band has used it as a metaphor. “That long sentence instantly resonated,” says Pelkonen. “It felt poetic, symbolic and like the perfect summary of OG’s journey. I practically begged Jukka to let us use it.”
The tempo is, as you would expect, frantic. The lead single, The Last Hero races along like an out-of-control racehorse, but as always, underpinned by the glorious melody that bands of this quality can deliver.
The combination of keyboards and heavy riffing does not always work, but here it is simply magnificent. Explosive, anthemic, it is a real headbanging, fist-in-the-air track, with ample bite and energy. 
To be fair, this album never lets up. The Darkest City, a splendid sprawler of a song, paints a picture of urban landscapes in a world of chaos, whilst Walking Ghost Phase considers addiction and despair. The former even has some brief passages where echoes of Rush at their ’90s pomp seep in.
They may not preach, but politics is inevitably intertwined with lyrical content of bands like Omnium Gatherum, and therefore it is unsurprising that there is permeation into subject matter.
This is an album with no fat on it. It is, to use a well-worn cliché, all killer, no filler. May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way is potent, vibrant and surely a contender for one of the best albums of 2025.
Penultimate song Barricades sees the band going flat out, and the faintest touches of Ultravox-esque synths that flicker merely add to the overall depth of the album.
I have only just scratched the surface with May the Bridges We Burn Light the Way. My feeling is that living with it for a few weeks will make me love this even more.
With some Floydian flourishes on the finale of Road Closed Ahead, the finish is as fantastic as the opening.
A truly majestic album and one that is likely to be top ten come year end.
Omnium Gatherum release May The Bridges We Burn Light The Way on 7 November 2025 via Century Media. For pre-orders, visit omnium-gatherum.lnk.to/MayTheBridgesWeBurnLightTheWay
