Review from Forbidden Magazine

Posted by Nick Skog on Friday, March 29, 2013 Under: Album Reviews

From: Forbidden Magazine
Published: March 28, 2013
Original Link

Taking their name from a Kafka story, Ukrainian quartet Odradek Room greets us suspiciously with their debut album, ‘Bardo. Relative Reality’. 7 sweeping tracks of undulating emotion and anguish ooze from the stereo for just under an hour, putting the average song at around 8 minutes…welcome to an album where ‘epic’ is commonplace and ‘average’ is nonexistent! It is quite some time into ‘Bardo…’ before the vocals even appear but on the occassion of their rare appearance, the diversity shown, from pig squeals, sadistic screams and then, more fittingly, quiet and whispered melodies. Regardless, the vocal presentation always suits that particular sound the band is relaying. Changing gears and directions on a whim is one of the strengths of Odradek Room, as the entire album seems to float in and out like a movie in terms of dynamics, especially with the French spoken word passages across the different tracks. If I had to find a favorite on ‘Bardo….’, I would find the watery melody of ‘River’ fits the title perfectly and the vocal samples take on the chaotic nature of the water just before the blast beat closes in and the water fills your lungs and sinuses. Perhaps, I favor this track more because of its brevity; it is easier to digest, has a defined beginning, middle and end and just captures an emotion, displays it and lets it go without wearing it out for too long. Check out this title, great display of emotion and vision from a debut album!

Reviewed by: Sleepwalker

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Tags: odradek room bardo relative reality atmospheric progressive psychedelic black doom death-doom metal kafka franz tibetan book of the dead