Tri Odyssey

After Nexus, my expectations for Blood Stain Child were beginning to wane, in fact lower than ever post-.εpsilon. Would the band go back to their pseudo-symphonic Finnish melodeath worship, or further embrace the club-ready trance masturbation, slathered in a thin coating of post-Colony In Flames leads and riffs? The hooks aren't as direct and plentiful as one might expect going in, with the synths instead taking the melodic reins. At times, it sounds like Silent Descent, what with synth-centric core breakdowns and an overall Gothenburg feel permeating just about every remaining crack. Another parallel can be drawn to countrymen Crossfaith, although the electronics are far more pronounced here.

To get to the matter at hand, Tri Odyssey follows the now-typical routine of the band to squirt out a smattering of singles and then reconstitute them into a more clinical EP, in this instance containing music videos for the tracks; they are surely as ridiculous as the music itself and not something I would show those not familiar with the band's aesthetic and Japanese idiosyncrasy. Regarding the vocals, Saika's cleans are a class above poor old Sadew, making Tri Odyssey feel like a handful of B-sides from Mozaíq performed better than the actual album tracks proper. "[email protected]" feels like the most direct and catchy tune, definitely a catchy number with autotune-drenched vocals amid a smattering of piano lines, breakdowns and a surprisingly decent solo.

Tri Odyssey impressed me, and serves its purpose of solidifying the band's sound going forward. For those expecting these guys to go back to Idolator's more direct Reroute to Remain-esque style will toss this one aside, but for the rest of us weaned on the electronic aspect, which has increased slowly over the last decade, Tri Odyssey serves as a crucial next step. Spurious shifts from heavy to introspective electronica gives the EP plenty of lasting power at its core, plus all four tracks are decent in their own ways. Despite lots of lineup changes recently, including the loss of band brainchild Ryo, Blood Stain Child seems to have successfully recovered. Still, I expect a full-length and will not be fully satisfied until the band delivers on that front. See you then, hopefully.