ODIN’S COURT – Deathanity

“Deathanity displays why Odin’s Court is difficult to fit into a genre; ambiance, dynamics, and soul are combined with complexity, groove, and energy in a song oriented structure, to create a unique, surreal landscape”.

Odin’s Court is an American Progressive Metal band heading out from Maryland in 2001. They have spent years in finding their sound and since then they have released two albums and a DVD, all efforts self-financed. They have also shared the stage with many great names such as Kamelot, Symphony X, Sonata Arctica and Helloween. Now they are signed with Prog Rock Records and have released their new album entitled Deathanity. Matt Brookins started to write the material for Deathanity in 2004. The concept he came up with was the effects that mankind has on the Earth. The entering of Craig Jackson and his composing skills helped in making the album what it is. This is written on their web site… “Brookins created words and fictitious dictionary entries with inspired album art for each song, further contributing to the organic feel”.

The album opens with the instrumental “Terracide” which is dominated by keyboards and bluesy sounding guitar licks for almost one and a half minutes. Then a more dark sound fills the loud speakers. The entrance of the entire band pushes out extreme energy through heavy progressive rhythms. The bass player really shows that he’s there on this one, it sounds really cool. From this one comes the song “Volatilestial” which is the first one to feature vocals. The singer has a clear and high-registered voice, really interesting to listen to! Not that special, but a great listening pleasure indeed. However, the only thing that takes this song a bit down is the guitar solo that sounds sloppy and goes nowhere. The end is dominated by a bass riff that goes over and over again until it becomes totally uninteresting.

“Mammonific” is another great tune heading out from this record. It’s melodic and has a lot of interesting progressive parts as well. The vocalist performances are outstanding. “Esoterica” is a fabulous instrumental song featuring a whole lot of great melodies and solos. But the following song “Crownet” may be the best song on this album. It’s energetic, varied and does also feature the greatest keyboard solo on the entire record. On this one you’ll also hear the voice of Tony Kakko from the Finnish Power Metal band Sonata Arctica. He does not sing that much, but what he contributes with is perfect.

Deathanity is an interesting album in many ways. The statement from their website which is written on the top of this review enumerates this album in a fine way. It’s varied, energetic and absolutely interesting as well as sometimes uninteresting. The songs become a little too long sometimes, especially towards the end of some songs and starts to stall at the same place. Looking apart from that and the lame drum production this is a good album. On the record you’ll find a guest performance from Tom Englund (Evergrey) as well.

1. Terracide
2. Volatilestial
3. Manifest Destiny
4. Oceanica Toxica
5. Mammonific
6. Animaulic
7. Esoterica
8. Crownet
9. Obesite
10. Ode To Joy
11. Cosmosera
12. Vastificant