Customer Reviews

Odium

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German art-metal band Morgoth had an exceptional career spanning the early 90's euro-death metal scene and ending in a 1997 confused attempt at commerciality. But at the height of their career, the classic ODIUM was recorded with crystalline precision at Woodhouse studios in Germany. It deserves a place among albums like Slayer's South of Heaven and Metallica's Master of Puppets. Conceptual in nature, exquisite in production and delivery, Odium belongs in any record collection that would include intelligent, artistic, and powerfully extreme metal music.

Although the vocal delivery may keep sensitive listeners away (imagine a death-infused Lemmy), the progressive chugging of the guitars and flawless rhythm section keeps the arrangements tight as industrial, and coldly emotional. There is enough brutality on Odium to satisfy any headbanger, and enough art, ambition, and melody to keep the more demanding listener enthralled. One of the single best albums in metal's history.

these german death veterans are (or were!) the farthest technical death metal could ever get. This and "cursed" are classics of the genre. the music will make you 'see' what is meant by the term "German precision". this was done in 1992 and the production on it is just as crisp as the newest death metal releases. i usually dont support the death metal genre because it quickly tends to get boring but these guys are an exception and their music preserves the harshness of the genre while staying entertainingly (cant find a better word) punishing. 'Golden age' is a death metal anthem.

Morgoth is a band that I got into way after their 1 day in the sun. Odium is my first and only experience with this band. The key word here is experience! Odium is an absolute classic metal album that travels through so may grooves and time changes. They don't rely on repetitive guitar chords or blast beats. Morgoth just crank out awesome Metal. They have a sound of their own. They have Death, Thrash and even very good Industrial influences on this album. The vocals sounds like a cross between Megadeth and Obituary. They were way over looked as many of the most talented bands are. There's not much more to say except get this CD. You can pick it up for dirt-cheap.

Not many copies of this CD show up with a low price, but I was lucky enough to get a nice used one for under $10. I kept checking back over a couple of months, and every copy was over $20, so I jumped when I saw one cheaper from a good seller. Plus, ebay didn't even have Odium on CD, only cassette. Unfortunately for me, my old cassette was damaged years ago, so it had been awhile since I'd heard this album in full.

Well, it has stood up fine, because I've been wearing it out since I got it. You might see Morgoth compared to Death or Obituary, which is fitting in some ways, but it won't clue anyone in to their actual sound. Since this is the only release of theirs I have, I can't compare it to their other work, but they sound original, unique, catchy, and brutal on Odium. The songs are mostly slow to mid-tempo, but that makes the moments they kick it up to full speed that much more effective. They also have a faint industrial influence that rarely sees light, but its mostly subtle presence adds an odd dimension to several songs. I can't specify any standout tracks because they're all equally incredible. This was one of my favorite albums of 1993, and now it's one of my favorite re-discoveries of 2011. I know they're supposed to play Wacken this summer, so I for one hope they follow that up with a new full-length.