Born in 1993, ODIUM gathered along the years, with an almost punctual release every three years, experiences and LPs making them veterans of a sort of minor trash metal scene. Now they are presenting their latest spawn, "As the World Turns Black", a record meant to grow with every listen but never destined to glow as a masterpiece. ODIUM do their job without lifting their head, sweating for their music and never stopping to believe in what they do: they'd deserve an award for this approach.

This pleasant release smells of KREATOR influences in almost every side of spectrum: vocal lines, kick drums sustaining melodic openings, choruses, all is stuck to the pillars of the melodic laced trash and classic metal created by their Teutonic forefathers. Although we see some leaning now toward punk-hc, now toward melodic death, "As the World Turns Black" has its centre of gravity well fixed in that mix. All the tracks, with an average 5 mins length, rely on a strict incipit / head-turning attack / well doses and not abused chorus structure. Songwriting reveals aforementioned skilled experience, with a nice contraposition between Runkel harsh vocals and Hübsch/Pfaff work on the guitars, showing off their skills on solos, arpeggios and shattering riffs, with a good use of effects; Belinda Ann Smaka 4-strings backs all up with strength, giving thickness to the work. Although most of the tracks are mid-tempo, record starts off with two fast songs, "The End of Everything" and "Point of No Return": with "No Goodbye" rhythm slows down and there it stands for almost the rest of the release. A winding bass line leads "Blind", moving toward a catchy chorus. "Revolution" and "Frozen World" show similar DNA with their stopped riffs, "Time is A Killer" speeds up things with some Slayeran influences. Titletrack moves away form a twin guitars developing into ballad rhythms. Closing track "Inside the Incubus" turns again toward slow SLAYER memories.

As said before, "As the World Turns Black" is an honest take on trash, worth your listening (and more than one, to be true): what you can't expect is a large amount of originality that would take this work and ODIUM to a higher tier.