Band:	Odium
Album:	Burning The Bridges To Nowhere
Style:	Death metal
Release date:	April 24, 2012
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Burning The Bridges To Nowhere
02. Within The Distraction
03. Blue Channel
04. Viral By Nature
05. Insomnia
06. A Ghost Upstairs
07. Claw My Eyes Out
08. Identity Of The Doomed
09. No Way Out
10. The Descent

Here's a typical opinion for you; the clean vocals are the ruin are of this otherwise great metalcore album.

*Queue massive audience departure*

Seriously though, people, for the most part, Burning The Bridges To Nowhere is a great album when focusing solely on the riff work. Generally, it rolls forth a charging pace that makes the perfect backdrop for a mix of super catchy rhythm guitar interlaced with fantastic leads that range between the epic, soaring melodies and the faint, cold sorrowful type. Beef things up with a distant, yet integral set of synths that sit in the background almost constantly, and you've got yourself a thick, slick, well oiled machine.

Too bad they have to crank out these whiny vocals at all the worst times. Granted, the harsh vocals sound like pretty typical deathcore grunts, but at least they do nothing to hinder the music. The clean vocals aren't actually terrible in themselves either, they just seem to herald in these constant (and completely unnecessary) drops into some over done, pseudo-power ballads. One minute, things are rolling forward really nicely, then it drops into some whiny Rise Against vibe sort of crap.

What it all boils down to is this; it's a typical modern metalcore album. As I Lay Dying, Bullet For My Valentine...Name any one of those sort of bands, as hard as it may be to admit, they've got some great riffs. Yet they never capitalize on those great riffs. Instead, like clockwork, they consistently have to meander into that cheese ball whining territory. Enough is enough. There are already plenty of bands out there willing to cater to the 13-year-old-girl inside each one of us, trying to cram Odium into this otherwise saturated market is unneeded. This is a band that really needs to re-envision their sound a bit. There is talent buried in here...somewhere...