OMBRA

Fear rarely arrives in only one form.
It can emerge from political unrest and social pressure, from the influence of media and technology, or from somewhere far more intimate, inside a mind slowly losing control.
On ‘Night Terror’, Canadian Heavy Thrash trio Ombra explore those different faces of fear through music that moves between old school Thrash, Groove Metal, Sludge and psychedelic influences, while deliberately leaving enough space for listeners to find their own meanings.
That openness is central to Ombra.
Rather than offering simple answers, the band examines the human condition, obsession, manipulation, perfectionism, anxiety and the fragile mechanisms of the mind.
Even when words disappear completely, as they do with the instrumental conclusion ‘So It Goes’, the listener is invited to complete the story.
In this interview by Fok ‘bs‘, Giuseppe Criniti, vocals and lead guitar, and Marco Sisti, rhythm guitar and bass, discuss the psychological world behind ‘Night Terror’, the importance of ambiguity, the influence of Montreal, the friendship at the heart of Ombra, and why sometimes music can express what words cannot.
‘Night Terror’ moves from external chaos in ‘Hysteria’ toward increasingly personal forms of fear and loss of control.
When you wrote the EP, did you already know you were creating that psychological descent, or did the narrative structure only become clear once the songs were finished?
Marco: “We always wanted to write about the human condition and everything that entails. Emotions, experiences, whether good or bad. The narrative for the EP became clear about halfway through that this is how we want to structure this project, and we feel it flows as it should!”
You deliberately avoid telling the listener what to think about subjects such as government control, media influence, social unrest and chemical escapism.
How important is ambiguity to Ombra, and is there a point where leaving interpretation entirely to the listener becomes more powerful than making a statement yourselves?
Marco: “I think ambiguity plays a huge part for us. We want there to be a sense of mystery to our music and definitely don’t want to tell the listener what to think. We keep our music open to interpretation; our listeners could hear different messages, and we are completely ok with that.”
The title track applies Murphy’s Law to the human mind, essentially imagining a situation where everything that can go wrong internally does go wrong.
What fascinated you about the idea of treating the human psyche almost like a system capable of catastrophically malfunctioning?
Giuseppe: “The human mind is an extremely complex and powerful mechanism where emotions and thoughts can entirely take control over a completely healthy body. We’ve seen incredible instances where positive reinforcement can miraculously cure medical patients, whether psychiatric or in critical medical condition. We’ve also seen how extreme negative feelings and emotions can entirely shut down a completely healthy human. Look at an experiment like ‘The Stanford Prison Experiment in 1971 by Philip Zimbardo’, where completely normal everyday individuals were assigned roles and took it to the worst extremes in a short period of time. The human mind is a very fragile system and influences, internal or external, can equally cause the system to malfunction.”
‘Stitches’ deals with the pursuit of perfection and the point where obsession turns destructive.
In a culture increasingly obsessed with appearances, optimization and self improvement, do you see perfectionism itself as a modern form of psychological horror?
Marco: “Absolutely!!! We live in a culture where natural beauty and who you are isn’t accepted, but it’s what the latest influencer or fad says it is, and that’s completely insane. Everyone is beautiful and having to mutilate yourself to strive for it makes no sense.”
Your songwriting often begins with rhythm, jams and extended instrumental ideas before the songs take their final shape.
Does that process mean that the music sometimes discovers an emotion before you have actually found the words to describe it?
Giuseppe: “The music definitely does discover its own emotions way before we write any lyrics to it. We sometimes spend hours jamming on various progressions and riffs, piecing together the raw emotion of the music itself.”
All three of you have known each other for decades, with Giuseppe and Marco even growing up together after your families came to Canada from Italy.
Has that history created a musical shorthand between you that would be difficult to develop in a band whose members met much later in life?
Giuseppe: “We’ve worked with some incredible members on this project; finding the right people to work with is always a challenge. Sometimes you just know someone is the guy. For example, on ‘Stitches’ we ran into Sasha in a studio we have been working in, and he was exiting the room as we were getting in. For whatever reason, we struck up a conversation and we just had a feeling that this was the guy to work with. I like to think of all the individuals who work with us as family.”
There is an interesting contrast between your Italian heritage and the Montreal environment in which Ombra developed.
Do you think those two cultural backgrounds have influenced the band’s identity in ways that are noticeable in the music, even if you never consciously set out to combine them?
Giuseppe: “Maybe not in the music itself; however, in shaping our identity, it is clearly visible. Ombra is the Italian translation of the English word ‘Shadow’.”
‘Hysteria’ received its first mix from JF Dagenais of Kataklysm.
Given Montreal’s enormous metal history, how much does the city itself influence the way you approach heavy music, and do you feel any responsibility toward that local scene?
Giuseppe: “Montreal has played a huge role in our musical influence. If you’re not familiar with the city or its history, it is one of the last truly bilingual places in Canada, which comes with a rich history. Not only do we have one of the most incredible audiences on the planet for all forms of music and sports, but an incredibly culturally diverse and rich place to live. With that being said, the political and cultural dynamics have definitely shaped ideas and observations clearly seen in our music and lyrics.”
The artwork for ‘Night Terror’ focuses on the idea that seemingly insignificant details can transform dreams into nightmares.
Was there a particular fear or image that became the starting point for the visual concept, or did the artwork emerge alongside the music as the EP developed?
Giuseppe: “The visual concept came from exploring various fears, phobias, and visual forms of artwork, specifically Caravaggio. If you know his work, it focuses on the dramatic use of light and shadow, which is a direct likeness to NIGHT TERROR and the themes we explore. The funnel web spider, albeit a small creature, has a specifically lethal venom to humans; however, many other mammals have little to no reaction… such as thoughts and words are to humans. A common theme seen throughout the album, whether it be from societal, political or psychiatric observations.”
Your music combines old school thrash, sludge, groove metal and psychedelic elements without sounding like a deliberate genre checklist.
When you are writing, do you ever have to stop yourselves from adding another idea because it would take the song too far away from its original identity?
Giuseppe: “Interestingly, we run into this a lot as we have different variations of the same songs. Sometimes we have great riffs that we write into a song, but it won’t make the final cut and will transform into its own song afterwards.”
‘So It Goes’ closes the EP without giving the listener a conventional resolution.
Instead, it leaves space for acceptance and perseverance.
Why did you feel that an instrumental ending was more honest than giving the story a final lyrical statement?
Marco: “Sometimes music says more than words can. Conventionally, when you hear lyrics in a song, it tells a story of what is already there. So it goes should have the listener tell their own story and accept the fate that has been bestowed upon them. Sometimes accepting the story and fate and learning to roll with it and keep moving forward should be up to the listener, not the writers.”
‘Night Terror’ was written during a decade marked by enormous social and technological changes.
If you removed all the lyrics and listened only to the music, what do you think the EP says about the psychological atmosphere of the time in which it was created?
Giuseppe: “The music would definitely reflect an era of unprecedented aggression, extremes and dealing with the hardships that come along with it.”
After spending years together in different musical projects and finally building Ombra around a much heavier direction, what is something you understand about each other musically today that you could not have understood when you first started making music together?
Giuseppe: “I think today we are much more understanding of each other and have a clear, supportive and mutual respect for our lives outside of the music itself, which I believe definitely benefits the creative process. We always put our friendship first with each other over feuds and creative differences.. OMBRA is definitely a family, not just another project to us.”
Behind the darkness of ‘Night Terror’ lies something distinctly human.
Ombra may explore social pressure, obsession, fear and psychological collapse, but Giuseppe Criniti and Marco Sisti approach those subjects without dictating what the listener is supposed to discover within them.
Ambiguity becomes part of the music itself, allowing the same song to carry different meanings depending on who is listening.
Just as important is the relationship behind the music.
After decades of friendship and different musical experiences, Ombra has become more than another creative project for its members.
Their respect for each other’s lives, ideas and differences has become part of the creative process.
Perhaps that explains why an EP concerned with instability and loss of control can ultimately end with acceptance rather than an answer.
‘Night Terror’ enters some uncomfortable corners of the human mind, but Ombra leave it to the listener to decide what is waiting there.
by Fok ‘bs‘