Swedish trio ODYSSEY was formed back in 2010, and have apparently made quite a name for themselves in their local live scene. “Abysmal Despair” is their debut effort, and one that has been described as eagerly anticipated by quite a few people, also outside of the inner circles around band and label respectively. The latter which is Transubstans Records, a label specializing in artists with somewhat of a vintage oriented hard rock or art rock sound.
In the case of Odyssey we’re dealing with a slight derivation from the norm for this label however. While it’s relatively easy to hear that Odyssey is yet another band that do know their Black Sabbath as well as hard psychedelic rock from the 70’s, these traits are not truly dominant aspects of their repertoire even if present in one shape or another throughout.
Instead I’d pull in punk and hardcore as more important aspects of their music, alongside grunge. In the case of the former two I guess post punk should be mentioned too, as the compositions at hand did give me a few associations to a band I guess many hard rock fans and progressive rock fans alike aren’t too familiar with, which is New Model Army. Not in sound as such however, but to a certain extent in approach.
The basic element of Odyssey is the bass guitar, providing thundering, energetic and massive textures throughout. In a manner that made me think about good, old Nuclear Assault actually, albeit not quite as frantic as this old hardcore-tinged thrash act was back towards the end of the 1980’s. Heavy, energetic drum patterns emphasize the high energy and high impact base sound of the band quite nicely, and does so in a fairly refined manner, at least refined enough to avoid any direct hardcore and punk comparisons.
The guitars have more of a dual, or perhaps triple, role in the proceedings. Sabbath-tinged riffs with nods in the direction of both grunge and garage rock represents one part of the role filled by the axe, the second one is to provide melodic and mostly repeated overlays with a closer relation to 70’s hard psychedelic rock, and occasionally we’re treated to some twisted blues inspired soloing too. But we’re also given the occasional staccato riff barrages that have a stronger resemblance to early 80’s hardcore and the UK punk movement in here, alongside occasional added noise elements thrown in for good measure.
But the punk and post punk associations are rather minuscule in the instrumental department, as they are just a few among several details that appears throughout each and every song. An element more thoroughly executed in this manner are the lead vocals, aggressively shouted more often than not, and only in rare moments of gentler tranquillity are we treated to a singing voice. Shouting is the norm, and fairly aggressively at that.
Which brings me back to punk, post punk and grunge. Odyssey’s debut is a production I’d describe as a likely end result if a band like Soundgarden had been asked to incorporate some punk and post punk aesthetics to their music. With the aggression of the punk movement honed in on the vocal department, but retaining the more refined metal orientation as far as instrumental performance go. Add in a somewhat lo-fi production and what might be described as a garage rock general approach and I believe most grounds have been covered.
The end result is a heavy hitting, high energy and aggressive slice of metal that does reach out to territories not commonly explored by other bands. It’s more basic in sound than actual performance, and the shouted vocals adds a primitive edge to the proceedings that does cover up instrumental performances and arrangements that are rather more developed. The basic sounding production another masquerade that hides a lot more than it reveals in that department. An album recommended to fans of aggressive, dark metal in general, and for some reason I have a gut feeling that quite a few Motorhead fans might have a soft spot for this album. Otherwise I’d guess that fans of aforementioned Nuclear Assault might be a key audience for this band alongside those who think that Jesus Christ Pose represented the ultimate achievement of aforementioned grunge stars Soundgarden.
My rating: 73/100
