Time Signature No way out...

Genre: melodeath

Burning Bridges to Nowhere is the sophomore album by Canadian metallers Odium. Solidly placed in the melodeath genre, the album is a fairly typical melodeath release and then again, it isn't.

It observes the features of the genre quite consistently, and thus the listener is treated to heavy and aggressive verses with thrashy riffage and growled vocals, combined with melodic choruses, sung in Thomas Emmans' quite expressive clean vocals. In addition, there are plenty of melodic guitar leads and some atmospheric and melodic synths to "melodize" things even further. Following the trail blazed by Dark Tranquility, Odium also insert a couple of blastbeats and other elements from more extreme metal every now and then.

So, yes Burning Bridges to Nowhere has everything a fan of melodeath will appreciate – and that is without deviating into the territory of sugary pop, which some formerly respectable melodeath bands have done recently (granted, some purists might find the melodic choruses and the closing ballad 'The Descent' to be poppy, but I will leave that up to them to rant about). Still, to some extent, Odium has more in comment with North American melodic metalcore acts than with Scandinavian melodeath bands. For instance, Odium do not embrace the Gothenburg-sound but make use more of a modern American metal sound on this album, and – although there are no metalcore breakdowns to speak of on this album – there album is pervaded by number of melodic metalcore aesthetics.

The musicianship is advanced and very solid with advanced guitar leads, and clockwork precise drumming, and – like mentioned above – the clean vocals are very expressive. Fans of melodeath and melodic metalcore alike should definitely give this album a listen, and they are likely to appreciate how Odium have managed to strike a balance between the melodic and the aggressive.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)