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Odious Mortem: Devouring the prophecy
12/02/09 || The Duff
I reviewed Odious Mortem’s most recent effort, Cryptic Implosion, and in doing so mentioned that I was impressed but hadn’t given the album enough time; in the end, I succumbed to the album’s attractive attributes (blistering drums, killer riffs, technicality yadda, yadda) and overcame my dissatisfaction of recent death metal experiences. Said album has now become one of the greatest in my collection – consisting of nothing but pure aural gold I would remind you – I decided to check up on the band’s other output which seemed to be the favoured of the two even by old-time fans who agreed with my opinion on the band’s 2007 effort.
In listening to this debut album from a band that gets no shortage of praise from other death metal stalwarts such as Severed Savior and Decrepit Birth, now regarded as the bands taking tech death forward, you aren’t going to be surprised to discover that the production is far less crystal-sharp than on the follow-up; also, the arrangements are a lot less refined, probably why “Devouring the Pussy” makes the genuine tech-death head salivate all over his three-piece factory of joy. There are no leads on this album that take center-stage, nothing nearly as catchy as pretty much all the fancy solos on “Cryptic Implosion”, and therefore nothing that relieves from the ongoing riffarama – this here is fast as fuck and difficult to take in all in the one go.
As for the inspiration, these guys are an American brutal death metal band, and sheeeit, if you don’t know which bands would contribute to the influencing of such a piece, you shouldn’t be reading this review as likely you will not warm towards “Devouring the Potpourri” – Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse and hints of Cryptopsy, to name a few. KC Howard’s drumming is just a little bit crazy; these days I consider him to be one of the few able to take over the Mike Smith throne, but on this album, his skills lack experience – still unbelievable to sit through, without a doubt, but he restricts himself far less, and consequently appears all over the place. The guitars mimic the drums, which is probably the chief reason for which I prefer “Cryptic Implosion” over this band’s earliest creation; there is a lack of variation on this effort, with a mixture of insanely executed legato/hammer-on “leads” that run up and down the fret-board in a manner that almost appears entirely random, usual American tech death lethargy (thankfully kept to a tasteful minimum), grind-induced apoplexy and pinch-harmonics abound, all lacking a fixed structure.
One thing I really liked about the band’s most recent effort was that there were some exceptionally short tracks to be found, and on “Devouring the Panini” such a thing remains – many tracks don’t exceed two minutes in length, and although they’re crammed full of riffs, it is one of the album’s elements that makes it more digestible; many bands would do well to take note, I reckon – sure, I can’t see Vital Remains doing such a thing any time soon, but other tech death bands do play tracks beyond their due, making Odious Mortem quite the breath of fresh air. All in all, you can go wrong with this effort, but only if you don’t like tech/brutal death of the upper class; the musicianship is all kinds of fine, but the band’s inexperience is glaring. I would recommend the sophomore, as the leaps and bounds they’ve made by said album are startling, but then if you dig it, I wouldn’t turn you away from “Devouring the Prophecy” either.
8 bands with a promising future out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2004
- Label: Unique Leader
- Website: www.odiousmortem.com
- Band
- Dan Eggers: guitars, vocals
- David Siskin: guitars
- KC Howard: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Debacle by Cephalopod
- 02. Caverns of Reason
- 03. Nothing Beyond the Rot
- 04. Golden Excretion
- 05. Thought Disruption
- 06. Carpal Tunnel
- 07. Third Pawn
- 08. Morton’s Neuronoma
- 09. Gristle Dripping Scab
- 10. Cerebral Dissection
