Review Summary: And those tree branches painted beautiful sounds....
The Odious is a technical / progressive death metal act, they hail from Portland Oregon; a home to many talented metal bands. After brewing for a couple of years they emerged in 2007 as a fresh new face to the scene. Along with bands like The Faceless, The Summoned, Fallujah and Beyond Creation the act intensions are clear, to play heavy music with a dosis of technical virtuosity and a distinct original element. This element takes many different shapes, “as an example:” for The Faceless it might be their extremely technical guitar/bass playing mixed with extraterrestrial sounding synths and melodic sections. For The Odious it is their ability to add fusion elements into their brutal music, just as Cynic did on September 1993 with their famous
“ Focus “ ; this is a different approach though, the fusion elements are accompanied by funky guitar interludes & keyboards ala Jordan Rudess, take also in count this thing contains minimal deathcore elements. On
“That Night a Forest Grew” The Odious crafted an excellent slab of original death metal that is trying to reinvent the wheel.
This EP takes all the elements that make the new wave of progressive tech death bands so enjoyable, and they shine. The guitar delivery is very technical but almost avant-garde thanks to the funky notes thrown here and there and also those fusion interludes. Sometimes The Odious adds a breakdown, but those breakdowns are given differently in comparison with other groups; instead of suddenly appearing they are shown at a certain section and eventually rejoin the mix, this makes them enjoyable (they “grow” on you). Another great characteristic are the solos, the bass guitar is highly listenable so when the solos come instead of only hearing the guitar you also appreciate the bass, and therefore realize both members are very talented players. The vocals are well done, he delivers a mixture between throat screams and mid-low growls; sometimes sounding like a younger mid-range version of Behemoth’s Nergal. The drumming is also very good, filling the heavy parts with double bass assaults accompanied by cymbals, but also entering the fusion sections with tribal-paced drumming and bongo. There is some bizarre alien clean vocals to be found; the singing adapts a extraterrestrial-esque texture complementing with the synths to evoke a “space expedition” feeling.
That Night A forest grew is based upon four songs, one divided into two parts. Entmoot serves as an excellent intro, it is the perfect prequel to Threads. Spacey guitar playing invades the room and clean vocals enter, suddenly a bongo starts introducing you to a fusion section that is later metallically developed and expanded on Threads; basically revolving around a heavier interpretation of Entmoot’s final moments until 2:30, right there the guitars play a funkier role…. After the fusion section they adapt to the drumming pace using melodic riffs and skillful playing that is full of whammy bars. Contemplating Utopia is the song that follows, it goes around a riff sequence accompanied by a carefully placed breakdown, the breakdowns as stated before are never fancy or sudden, they are not overused either. The breakdown is well positioned and the second guitar interchanges virtuosity with the entertaining bass; when they revisit the riff sequence the outcome results catchy and fun. That’s one of the many talent this act possesses.
Ultimately the highlight is the title track of the EP “Last Night A Forest Grew”. Opened by mysterious synths that as a surprise are accompanied with acoustic guitar notes, the last pair of songs serve as amazing examples of how talented The Odious as a band are. the second part clocks at nine minutes. No second is wasted, whether they are experimenting with fusion elements, reaching technical limits or simply guitar soloing, “Last Night A Forest Grew” is an impressive piece; they even look for that chorus left in Entmoot’s refrigerator and they prepare a tasty sandwich with it. The last minute of the song is simply epic, an acoustic guitar is all of a sudden implemented and accompanied by clean vocals; when thus part ends all the instrumental section goes frenzy ending up in one of the most satisfactory album completions I’ve heard since months ago.
That Night A Forest Grew is an excellent piece of modern death metal, it takes notes from bands like Cynic and uses them very well; but the most incredible aspect of
That Night A Forest Grew the fact this musicians are seventeen year olds and manage to play such mature, original music. Rather than an invention
That Night A Forest Grew truly is an excellent invention.
