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Review Summary: “CRYPTIC IMPLOSION” is a high end technical achievement that does not fall short. The music is very technical and diverse, which means the album has a longevity value. The band does never slow the paste, and this may prove to be the only problem. Odious Mortem is a Californian metal act that had their debut in 2005 with their album “DEVOURING THE PROPHECY”. This album took the Californian death scene to a new level, delivering high speed and crushing riffing that almost seemed alien like, compared to other Californian death acts. The cheer brutality of the first album made the band a good choice for heavy listeners. Now Odious Mortem is back, with what seems a fast paced brutality unheard since Cryptopsy’s “None So Vile”.
Odious Mortem is highly technical on this new album, and one can only speculate how they plan to play this material on tour. The first song Fragmented Oblivion starts with a crushing blast inferno, accompanied with swift riff changes that seem to follow the furious drumming. The constant pounding double beats seem to have no end, but what is surprising on this new album is that the classic blast beats have not been misplaced nor abandoned; they follow the same pattern with only one pedal stroke following the snare single strokes. Vocalist Anthony Trepani, delivers high pitched to low guttural growls which seem to follow the flow of the music quite well, and are not too dominating nor to low to be considered harmless, they are just right! As the songs continue there is no drastic changing of tempo, the double beats are faster and faster, reaching inhuman standards that equal the likes of Sandoval and other legendary drummers. Also the beautiful shift of paste and breaks that the drummer delivers is a treat for fanatics, like myself, the drummer KC Howard does a fantastic job! There is a light tendency that the tempo slows down when a solo is nearing or in progress. Good solos are rare these days, and Dan Eggers delivers brutal chops with a bit of melodic touch.
There is clear trash influence in the songs and one can only envy this symbiosis. After the short trashy third song “Dysmorphic Avulsion” there is a slight change of playing and the bass can be heard in several tracks, the bass slapping Joel Horner follows the drum pattern, but does not cover all the gaps, this gives the base a free role, and therefore allows it to follow the leading guitar work more. This then gives the songs a jazzy feeling, a real trademark of technical Death Metal acts.
The only problem is the constant inhuman tempo, it makes the album short in terms or running time, and one can’t help to think of what advantage there could have been if the songs had been longer, and if more slow heavy parts were injected, then it would certainly had given the album more value. DON’T GET ME WRONG there are moments where the tempo is slower, and everything, but these are merely only 3-4 songs, and we are talking about 10 in total. Another hooky song with fantastic musicianship and incredibly precise playing with on and off breaks, and temp changes is the song “Nux Vomica”. The longest track on the album “Domain Of The Eternal Paradox” Has two sides to it, the first half is brutal as hell, and the other his more melodic, this is a well hidden surprise that I count as a strong plus. The last track “Collapse Of Recreation” features legendary Watchtower guitarist Ron Jarzambek who adds some new tones that all together make up for a nice ending to an album that highly I recommend for technical Death Metal heads!
Shred on dude!
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Insurrection (4)
Polished and well-executed technical death metal, this time with more tech....
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This is a good first review. I might get this if its similar to None So Vile, cuz that was one hell of an album.This Message Edited On 05.27.08
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a good album but nothing outstanding
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Well I know that None So Vile is a classic, but this one is still excellent, considering other new Death Metal stuff that comes out. This one has really been something special in terms of technical performance, and content.
But I just can't ignore how much Influence Chuck has had on these guys, I mean just listening to this I constantly think back to HUMAN ;) (Which by the way is the best Death metal album of all time!!!!)
But thanks for the compliment bro
Shred on!
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
good review, this is a great album, tops their last album, and i thought it was a great album also.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Yup! I'm glad to see that others like it as much as I do!
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
It's pretty decent, but their labelmates (such as Gorod and Psycroptic) put them to shame.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I'm sorry to hear that, but I just wouldn't compare this band to Gorod? I would say all respect to Gorod, but Odious Mortem is more explosive and is more packed, While Gorod's song structures are very simplistic at times, giving much space to solos, both guitar and bass, but I'm not impressed by it, because it never ends up being something catchy, it just copies something already done by bands such as Death and Atheist I know for certain that Odious Mortem has become more structured rather more solo oriented as this band, and I have to admit that their vocals aren't that impressive either. Gorod is a fine example of a band that has much to offer, it just isn't enough to surprise me. And when you wrote "put them to shame" really surprised me, because Odious Mortem I think has much to offer.
Psycroptic is on the other hand quite a mouthful, and I do believe that they are quite close to Odious Mortem when it comes to speed, but I will disagree with you when I compare the song structures of the two, Odious Mortem comes out on top, because they offer more variety and more experimental tendency rather than pounding right though everything, and sounding rather unbalanced, sometimes when I listen to Psycroptic it sounds just like Deeds Of Flesh, only that Deeds Of Flesh are more chatchy and balanced. Psycroptic has its very cool blast moments, but feels not mature when compared to Odious Mortem's newest offering.
So please consider what you write before stating something like that, although Odious Mortem doesn't include all the solos that Gorod does, and it may not be as furious as Psycroptic. But it stands out and holds its own.
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
I did consider what I wrote, and I don't regret it. For the reasons stated in your last paragraph, I still believe they're better than Odious Mortem. Don't get me wrong, they're still a great band, just not on par with Gorod and Psycroptic, though.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
We are all entitled to our opinions and I would never dream of saying that others are wrong in their statements. I rather embrace it, because if we wouldn't have different taste and opinions, music would certainly not sound as it does today. And I can see that you haven given the album a very good score, so I have nothing to argue about.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
I really enjoy this band.
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Awesome drumming and guitaring.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
I can play the drums on this album with one hand and one foot.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
pure classic . awesome record .
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