A quick(ish) review of Twilight Odyssey's CD...
So, the Twilight Odyssey cd. I’ve had it for a few weeks now, and while I haven’t been able to listen to it as much as I’d like, I have been able to form an opinion.
I knew before it came that it was metal, but beyond that I didn’t really know what to expect. I didn’t expect it to be so well presented, something which many bands treat as an afterthought. Ben and co. must really be commended on this aspect straight away, the only thing which gives away the self released aspect of the cd is the absence of a barcode. The sleeve, booklet and even the disc all look fantastic. Highly professional, and puts many a major label release to shame.
But the music’s the important part, right? I put the disc in my player and what came out honestly did surprise me. I never listened to a huge amount of eighties metal, but this is like the idealised version of it that I hear in my head. The guitars have a fantastically retro tone, that kind of nasal overdrive from early Ozzy albums, but with more meat and, like everything else, they’re extremely well recorded. A criticism I often had of old metal albums was that they sounded thin. While their general tone is replicated here, the sound is full bodied and dynamic. The bass in particular sounds great, while the drums are a musical instrument with dynamics, rather than on the beat thuds. On the vocals, the singer is, of course, a woman, a fact that you think about before you put the disc on, then discount after about a minute. She’s simply a powerful classic rock vocalist, and there aren’t any girly songs here! Her voice gives the music a slightly different texture than a male vocalist, which can only be refreshing. The lyrical content; it’s the kind of stuff a lot of people think is a bit daft but it’s perfectly suited to the music and well enough written.
So what about the songs? These are well crafted, epic metal anthems, from the old school but with a new perspective, a perfect example being the Spanish sounding horn section that appears on the first track, Plaza de Toros. It fits beautifully, sounds fantastic and doesn’t seem at all out of place. I believe this track can be downloaded from the band’s website, if you want to see for yourself. A common thing with any kind of album is that there are a few good songs, then about half way through it runs out of steam. Not here, the quality level is remarkably consistent. In fact, it almost seems to improve towards the end! I think my favourite tracks are Plaze de Toro, which is track one, The New Queen, track eight, and Gift Of The Southern Oracle, track ten. Oh, and there aren’t many short, snappy tunes here, the average is over five minutes but there are two over seven minutes and one over eight!
The eighties metal scene, to me, was mostly Metallica and then Guns’N’Roses, the only things I have that I can really compare this to are Randy Rhoads era Ozzy and early Queensrych, but if you like either of those, you’ll love this. My only real criticism would be a bit of a lack of variety, but then, it is what it is. A well packaged, well recorded, and well played metal album. The band, especially Ben, who does seem to be the main man, really seem to have a passion for what they’re doing, and do it with a maturity and professionalism that, if there’s any justice, will carry them a long way. I like it a lot, roll on album no. two!
Kids, buy it!!!!
