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Odium > The Sad Realm of the Stars > Reviews > WilliamAcerfeltd
Odium - The Sad Realm of the Stars

Could easy be a Limbonic Art album - 99%

WilliamAcerfeltd, December 19th, 2007

OK, so this album holds only pale shades against Moon in the Scorpio but it’s definitely up there with the other Limbonic Art albums, actually, if you knew nothing about Limbonic Art you could easily be tricked into thinking this was something by that band, or vice versa, except with a different vocalist.

If someone said to me, Odium became Limbonic Art later, I'd actually believe them, even though Limbonic Art was actually formed before Odium. The similarities between the two bands is pretty astounding especially when you take into account no members for either band are involved with each other. A bit like Dissection and Sacramentum, although some members do actually cross in bands such as Zyklon. Anyway, this band has a similar image (from about Moon in the Scorpio to In Abhorrence), similar music even similar art work. The band was even signed on the same record company as Limbonic Art at the time, Nocturnal Art productions.

The band has symphonic elements in the songs ala Limbonic Art. Personally, I love symphonic black metal when done well; it has a great aural aesthetic appeal. As with all symphonic black metal bands, the symphony is in key minor, that is sad. Again, like in Moon in the Scorpio, through the symphonic elements in this album, the album gets a magical feel to it and conjures up images of stars and space. The piano pieces on this album are melancholic and beautiful.

The riffs on this album are good to say the least. They are often combined well with the symphonic elements. Sometimes this can be shoddily done and you get a goofy aural effect. The guitars are dark and sinister sounding and overall reinforce the sad feeling on this album.

The only real difference between Limbonic Art and Odium are the vocals and the drumming. The vocals are a lot better than what you can find on Limbonic Art up to Legacy of Evil. They are cold and hate filled and really fit the atmosphere on this album well. The drumming again is superb, Eek (weak black metal name) is by all standards a great drummer, and the drumming in this album is technical and could only be performed by quite accomplished drummers.

So all in all, this is a solid piece of symphonic black metal which is unfortunately overlooked. The band is currently on-hold for unknown reasons, so it may be possible that they will (hopefully) release a new album soon, although personally, I am not very optimistic. My compliant about this album is that it's far too short. Had the album been about 20 minutes or even 30 minutes longer, then it would have been much better, especially because the band has never released another album.

Aside: I just found out the cover art on this album was done by Morfeus of Limbonic Art, which is why the album cover is so similar to In Abhorrence... and over Limbonic Art albums. It is therefore possible that the two bands had extensive contact which each other and possibly borrowed and influenced each other, hence the similarities on this album.