ODDLAND – “THE TREACHERY OF SENSES”
CENTURY MEDIA (2012)

Metal Church - The Present Wasteland

Music contests are functions that I absolutely love to hate! I am not sure whether that is a result of me living in the United Kingdom for the last decade, where shows as the ‘X Factor’ and ‘The Voice’ are attracting the interest of massive and culturaly/socially diverse audiences, or whether I just don’t see why true musicians need to be promoted artificially – surely true musicianship will make itself heard anyway?. Well, even though the Finnish Progressive quartet Oddland is a band that came to prominence through such a competion, there are at least two reasons I can think of which make them stand out: first, Finland is a country in which Metal is actually more commercial than Pop and secondly, this band has managed to attract the attention and support of the German Label Century Media – a label that is not known for investing in Prog. Let’s see what the deal is with these Northeners, shall we?

The only thing that betrays Oddland’s roots are their great understanding of what constitutes good quality melodies and their use throughout this ten track album – other than that, none of the trademark elements of bands that originate from the ‘land of the thousand lakes’ are present here. These guys really fancy their riffs to be heavy, with a guitar tone that is low and massive-sounding to allow comparisons with bands like Tool, but they have also ensured that for every single discordant riff or technical theme provided there is a counter-balance of a beautiful vocal or lead guitar melody, ensuring perfect musical equilibrium. At their heaviest and most aggressive, these guys are reminiscent of bands like Nevermore and Tool, whereas their most melodic/moody or even jazzy side betrays influences from Pain Of Salvation and the mighty Opeth!

The first composition to open the album (and blow my mind!), is the five minute “Above And Beyond” – a song based on an unbelievably catchy synchopated riff, which portrays frontman Sakari Ojanen as an emotionally comanding figure. The first solid example of the fine balance between technical themes and melodic passages is clearly audible in “Flooding Light” while the Akerfeldt (Opeth)- inspired vocals and purely emotional lead guitar melodies in “In The Eyes Of Mourning” make this one of the many highlights of this album. The Nevermore-sounding opening riff of “Aisle Of Array” raises the temperature a bit, but only temporarily, as the following themes are more melodic in nature with the exception of the refrain which provides another powerful and commanding performance from the band’s much talented singer. Both “Past The Gates” and “Still The Spirit Stays” demonstrate the band’s flirtation with some Jazz formulae and make a beautiful contrast with the more solemn and emotionally-charged “In Endless Endeavour”. “Sewers” finds the band sucessfully experimenting with piano tunes and female vocals, “Lines Of Silver Band” indulges in heavy riffs and up-tempo rhythmical drumming and is the fastest composition of the album. The eight minute “Ire” is a cleverly crafted opus with slow atmospheric passages, in stark contrast to the latter part, which is far more up-beat and technically challenging, thereby closing the album in an explosive and utterly impressive manner.

I am not sure if it was Roine Stolt from the mighty The Flower Kings or another such high profile musician who recently said that the big names of the Prog genre should be careful of competion from young pretenders, who have been appearing at an alarmingly fast rate in recent years but that rings true – especially in the case of Oddland. In what I must remind you is their debut release, these guys have managed to present us with material of such finesse and high quality that most other bands need a lifetime’s work to achieve, if they are ever able to at all. Though quite an accessible album, “The Treachery Of Senses” contains layers upon layers of music that will take you months to dissect and become trully connected with, so put on your Prog Metal hats, sit back and enjoy this amazing ride! What a great way to start one’s musical career!

John Stefanis

Rating: ****1/2 (4.5/5.0)

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