Odyssey (Un)Dead

With Hours opening the album in a sure prophecy of all to come – a sickeningly real description of a true spurting vain of happiness. “Me, I service the machinery of death so that people can eat. If that makes me evil, then so be it.” And the solemn voice would somehow continue into fifty one minutes of a tight enriching madness…from fiery scathing pounding of a brutal lack of all remorse thru a powerful otherworldly romance of stricken violence to a point of beating dark resonance.

The complexity of Odyssey (un)Dead coupled with the ‘Vulgar Display of Talent’ thru many layered anthems of insanity is hardly to be labeled any single realm of music…or even life for that matter. So much happening so often in so many variable tempos is a remarkable feat. Its an album that so unwittingly defines the brutality of a lost romance – a lost touching of humanity with a solid convicting emotion. There is still life somewhere deep within most of you. Shut down the Idiot Box and lose THE FEAR!

The discipline and archaic beauty of Odyssey (un)Dead will surely be lost on the masses, but more importantly lost on those its meant to be injected by – the community of Metal. A cynical and sad truth. There is a sense of technical urgency that will leave most baffled and without any real mode of understanding most of what’s going on. The ride of quick madness streams on with this Core’s (as I’ll lay down no fucking prerequisite label) standard blast beats, double bass bullet massacres, the chugging of genocidal guitar rhythms, overlays and underground keyboard & synthesizers of both massive & subtle attributes, and intense sounds of all kind. With Odyssey (un)Dead comes much more, however.

The first of all tenements of originality and careful planning is the speed of which Grimoire reaches out to grip every sense. The Breathing Process’ skill in all areas is masterful and surprisingly complex – a simply gorgeous dual keyboard & wailing dance on the other side of radical double bass speed groove to the end of the album’s first track of entirety is a prime and novel example. And with each ensuing track, the mythos of this unknown band rides on parallel rails into the unknown. With Leveler is a space bound, centuries old takeoff on the flames of amazing keyboard resilience – undoubtedly some of the best around. The track ends after a sitcom of musical accomplishment with the howls of a small tribe of tiny lost monkeys (in truth) deep in some far off jungle.

Vultures brings forth the first element of truly slowing the ride, with a beautiful female elegance (the voice, that is), which is prevalent throughout most of the beast, not withstanding a short burst of more such archaic heaviness. But its within Vulture’s final spin of segments that the first taste of that lost romance is truly felt. The fading out of sweet groove on the ride & vocals, the echo of a repetitive chord structured picking & mellow bass line, and the wavering piano goodbye all make for an epic ending to a supremely original track.

Erupting from a momentary blackness is a blasting, all – too heavy eclectic mix of speed and keyboard scales. An earful of synchronized noise and explosions from the roof of a blazing vessel of galactic travel…and so it is all Pantheon Unraveling. The smooth velocity of groove is pushed on by a righteous double bass and fading on the wings of some distant guitar phaser. Elegant and deadly.

An interlude in the intensity of it all is Starless Eternal – had the vessel not veered off into some dark starless night, then the progression of every evolving sense of the album’s shortest track would constitute the whole scene. A mountainous buildup. A heavy keyboard & drum driven instrumental jam. The noiseless disappearance of an object into a dark oblivion.

From that mute sky drops the noted beauty…vulgar vocals of guttural vigilance…the high wailing phaser of terrible things to come…fantastic vocal duality…a ritual of bass slapping & bruising groove…a fierce sound compiled of a thousand elements of The Breathing Process’ virility. And from the guts of a well bred mega advanced Doomsday mechanism comes flying with a fuckin’ sick originality – Metamorphisis! The supreme technocratic gods of our immediate future will be fueled by such a thing as Metamorphisis! Absolution! A goddamn fiery upswing of progression and Hellish movement. The insanity of a every millisecond of a man’s rage could otherwise be densely rolled into such a track…motivational with chord progressions and superior high vocal notes coupled with a grueling low fog of vocals…thick with talent…a breathtaking art piece of mammoth intelligence…radical keyboard synthesizers that tamper with the mystic…powerful…a stand alone piece of The Breathing Process’ true grit! Metamorphisis is a mad power driven lunatic that beyond all good measure, prevails in the end. An organized eccentric, and the album’s most RIGHTEOUS track.

So as to not dissect every grain and cell within Odyssey (un)Dead…..

…..Hordes – Brutally indifferent with a high water mark of more complex insanity and a hypnotic middle groove of ultramodern romantic zeal as well as a skull crushing final two minutes of pounding chaos.

…..The Living Forest – Blast beats and a shallowness delivered to sections of the vocal harshness. A ghostly keys lead high above all else that continually mingling with a phantom somewhere up there in the dark terrace. Very technical breakdown, but fully primal.

…..Wind Ritual – The awakening of some blackness. A doomed force of slow motion. A female dominance of beauty and delay of death. Short and imposing.

…..The Opaque Forest – Particles of sound ripped in all directions. A very powerful track of howling winds whispers erupting to deathly growls. The dual tones of two tongues as well as the resilience of the female figure is mastered.

Decaying Form is a capstone – a fitting boot marching solidly to the setting Sun. The track has within its few minutes everything offered with a sentiment of a proper resignation. The trip has been nothing less than extraordinary. A soft motif is conjured up amidst the track’s blast beats and screams. A tear filled ending of the most solid album made since Behemoth’s Evangelion.

Odyssey (un)Dead is a goddamn mythos of talent and precision…romance and brutality. The thing as a whole, I’m rightfully afraid, will be left behind and discarded because of its absurd technicality and progressive motion. The shame of the masses is their pure idiocy, but more so, their vindictiveness of all original and great things. (I’ve always said Kill Them All!)

The Breathing Process, comprised of Andrade, Sloan, Parker, the gorgeous Loerlein, Milner, and Lafreniere have all worked together to create and lay before us a truly epically solid & amazing album. Lets light fires upon the true garbage and cherish such a thing. Without a shadow of any doubts, one of the best metal albums to emerge thus far in 2010, but in no way a token for the simple minded or easily amused. An absolute Four CWG Guns, packing thick with ammo and ready to fuckin’ go for the HUNT!