Odyrmos are a Greek Black Metal band who combine Black Metal with Ambient and dungeon synth (whatever that is). This is their second full-length album and is released on Belfry Records.

It starts promisingly enough with "The Birth of a Melancholic Ode" which does exactly what the track suggests. It's an instrumental and some nice keys and synths add a melancholic intro before the guitars punch in. The track leads to the same guitar riff over feedback and simplistic drums which then morph into blast-beats to propel the track to its conclusion.

"As the Light Fades" starts with marching-band drums before the typically indecipherable vocals come in. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the lyrics so I have no idea what Forest is singing about as the vocals are too low in the mix as are the drums. The guitars dominate the sound and the rhythm just becomes repetitive and grates after a while.

In fact, I really enjoyed the first five tracks with "Construe The Last Word" being the most adventurous. Clocking in at over seven minutes, it starts with an interesting guitar intro paving the way for a heavy and melodic rhythm. The dual vocals are great on the chorus and as the song progresses, there's some gentle vocals over acoustic guitar before going back to the intro and then the chorus and ending on a flurry of blast beats and heavy guitar. It didn't get boring and the overall composition of the song was great.

"Aware" reminded me of SOILWORK with its combination of gruff and clean vocals which is no bad thing at all. There was some great lead guitar and some interesting melodic riffs.

The penultimate track "Solitude Fortitude" has Nu-Metal leanings in the verse but is definitely a head banging track with a melodic chorus reminding me a little of LINKIN PARK. I really enjoyed this track though the final track "Dark Project" sounds positively dull in comparison and was a dull end to what is a very good metal album.

Overall then, this is a very good album which isn't afraid to experiment and isn't a carbon copy of the usual gruff/clean vocals you find in this style of music. The cleans are used sparingly but effectively and the dual harmonies work exceptionally well. The rhythm is tight and you can hear the bass in the mix which makes a change. The riffs are both varied and interesting and I think many of these songs would sound great in a live setting.

I think the test of any album is would you listen to it again and I certainly would, so a thumbs up from me.