Published: October 18, 2013

Odradek Room is an atmospheric and progressive death & doom act with post-rock leanings from Ukraine. They got their name after one of Franz Kafka’s short stories and apart from this odd moniker for a band; few other things surprised me about this band. Their debut album (initially recorded in early 2012) is odd, bizarre and with equally confusing title Bardo, Relative Reality. It contains only 7, but quite lengthy songs.

The album is a conceptual story based on ideas of the 'Tibetan Book Of Dead' and surreal images of the subliminal consciousness. It obviously has two sides, both the aggressive and melancholic one. Some of the lyrics are in their native language, others in English. Vocals are growling, riffing is slow and melodies are mostly soaring and emotional. It has this almost psychedelic touch to it, but I hardly got through the whole material, since I find it uninspiring, boring and repetitive. It has loads of atmosphere, but it simply lacks this nerve and more tempo variations, to make it interesting and something unique. Thus, every song on the album is complex and with confusing structure.

On the other side, I only have words of praise for the terrific production, allowing each aspect of their music to unfold. The same can be said about this simple yet beautiful artwork imagery.

If you are looking for an easy listen, I’d suggest going elsewhere since Bardo. Relative Reality is not the easiest one to embrace for an average metal fan. Meanwhile, if you’re an old-school fan of this kind of music and esp. bands like Anathema, My Dying Bride, Saturnus or even Paradise Lost, give them a fair chance.