Odhinn - From a Splendourus Battle

ODHINN - From a Splendourus Battle (NAPALM Records - CD 1998)

I remember that the reason why I wanted to buy Odhinn's debut EP "From a Splendourus Battle" was because it featured some members of another Swedish band In Battle. Which was a band I quite liked, so I hoped Odhinn will be equally interesting. But they weren't, at least not on this EP. There are four tracks here, with twenty minutes of music and all I can say is that it's hardly listenable and very quickly forgettable piece of harsh black metal. If I call it mediocre, that would be a pretty kind compliment for this EP. 

It is said that Odhinn plays viking metal, but if you expect medieval melodies, acoustics, epic themes and sing-along warrior like chants from them, then forget it. "From a Splendourus Battle" is much more about fast and nasty black metal. And as such, it wouldn't be a bad idea if these songs were good, their execution was solid and the production was good enough to catch your attention. But no, the music sounds messy and chaotic, almost like the guys couldn't handle the ideas they came up with. Especially the drummer is sometimes losing rhythm and idea what should he play. The vocals are also just boring, harsh screams, maybe quite alike to Enslaved's Grutle, but without even a smallest piece of his talent and creativity. And the production? It's flat, raw and makes everything sound even more horrible. The drums sound crap, the guitars are thin and hardly audible from the wall of noise it all delivers... Definitely the whole music and the production sound amateurish, primitive and to be honest, there's almost no single minute of worthy and solid music. If there are some better "fragments", then you don't care for them, because the whole EP sounds rubbish. I don't even know why I still have it in my collection. Probably because no one would buy this CD from me anyway. I never had a chance to hear Odhinn's album "The North Brigade", but I will believe if you say that it's equally bad as this EP is. 

PS. And the mistake in the word “splendorous” in the title? Come on, can it be even more amateurish? 

Verdict: 30/100