Odium – At the Bottom
Year of the Sun Records (3/17/09)
Metal

Odium has taken the blueprint of melodic metal from Sweden’s In Flames and tempered the attack with a hint of Killswitch Engage to create a sort of Canadian leviathan. The result is At the Bottom, an album chock-full of ambition even if the band ultimately chooses emulation over innovation.

That’s not to say there isn’t a hell of a lot on this album to satiate metal-heads the world over. Every song is a brutal dose of metal, filled with melodic riffs with a little synth or keyboard popping up on the rare occasion.

Odium is at its best when the band is just tearing through songs, like the blistering “Population Zero” or album opener “Oblivion’s Gates”, where each song is just turgid with meaty riffs, thunderous double-bass and blast beats, and a nice mix of growling, demonic vocals with the melodic, clean reprieves. (The band does a nice job with this recipe on the slower-paced title-track, too.)

That’s pretty much the approach Odium takes with each song, sometimes going a little heavier (“Frailty” or the nearly seven-minute “Need to Exist”) or more melodic (“The Failure” or the syrupy album closer “The Abyss Stared Back”). In a rare misfire, the band seems to channel Chevelle on “Serenity’s End”, opting for almost completely clean vocals. At least tracks like “It Goes Cold” or “Lifting the Veil” have a built-in sense of urgency to them.

Canada is turning into a breeding ground for solid metal outfits (just look at label mates Cradle to Grave or Misguided Aggression); If Odium is able to break out and reach a wider audience, the band could really make a mark on the scene and probably grow a lot, too.

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