Hey there, tech fiends. It's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's focus, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking for even more sick bands to hear, all prior editions of this series can be perused here.
As a long time fan of Odious Mortem, I'm really excited to share an early album stream of Synesthesia with you today. It's the group's first release in 13 years and drops this Friday, January 17th via Willowtip Records. You can read on to learn more about this killer comeback effort or scroll below to start checking out the new album immediately.
There's a few reasons as to why Synesthesia is so highly anticipated, the main one comes down to how goddamn good their 2007 sophomore album, Cryptic Implosion, was. Beyond that, I'd say the other notable reason is that there weren't nearly as many technical brutal death metal bands at that time taking a heavily prog-death inspired approach paired with very sophisticated songwriting as well. Outside of a few other reasons, Cryptic Implosion really helped inspire much of what the California tech-death scene has birthed since it's release. Regardless of the lengthy passage of time between then and now, Odious Mortem is back in a big way and Synesthesia sounds like a group who haven't lost a step and are still on to something fresh and interesting musically in 2020.
If you're new to the band, imagine a more brutal and heavy Decrepit Birth intertwined with everything Deeds of Flesh do so well. Unlike most efforts by those two and many others by equally skilled peers in the genre, crafting releases without a bit of excess fat has always been one of my favorite Odious Mortem hallmarks. Speaking personally, I much prefer technical brutal death metal that is all killer and no filler which the group achieves again here with a slim just under 38-minutes in length run time.
As usual, I asked if the band wanted to share a new statement about their release and vocalist Anthony Trapani said "It’s really a great thing that we were finally able to make Synesthesia happen. Many years of friendship and brotherhood were folded into this album. This is a capsule filled with old and new ideas blended and molded until we felt ready to freeze them in time. It is a raw tribute to our lives and our roots in this genre."
Fans of technical brutal death metal will find a lot to love throughout Synesthesia and regardless of what else drops this year this is going to be among the best of 2020 for this style of tech-death. I'd also wager a lot of tech-death fans not usually into the extremely brutal stuff will also be impressed with the quality of this album given its prog-death inclinations and impressive songwriting from start to finish. So be sure to check out the album below through the embedded Bandcamp player. If you like what you hear, Synesthesia can be ordered through the Willowtip Website here and here and also through the Willowtip Bandcamp Page. You can follow the group over on the Odious Mortem Facebook Page.
