Offerings To Odin – Hoc Voluerunt (Digital Album – Offerings To Odin)
Genre/Influences: Dark-electro.
Background/Info: Stephen Bailey and Joel Walker aka ‘Svipal’ are back on track unleashing the second album from their Offerings To Odin project. I discovered the band a few years ago by their debut work “Ravenous”, which revealed some cool ideas although the global production suffered from a lack of professionalism.
Content: “Hoc Voluerent” features 10 songs plus 2 remixes. The sound is clearly influenced by dark-electro although the leads also have something cold-techno like. The global production process became more professional and also the songwriting has improved. Offerings To Odin doesn’t deal with the ‘classical’ harsh and merciless dark-electronics; the sound and especially the rhythmic is more controlled. The vocals remain however harsh and extremely distorted.
The tenth song is a cover version of the famous “Goodbye Horses” (originally performed by Q Lazzarus) followed by two remixes by Alien Vampires and Hocico.
+ + + : I noticed a serious improvement compared to the debut album, which might explain why this work has been promoted by X-Beats (Jan Loamfield from Noisuf-X). This album is totally devoted to dark-electronics and yet there’s something unique running through it. I think it’s maybe of the cadence, which is never exaggerated and the leads having something technoid on top. Both remixes are cool, but especially the one by Hocico, which also is the best song from the album.
– – – : There is still too much linearity in this work. The sound formula is repetitive, the songs becoming a bit predictable after a while.
Conclusion: I can’t say this album is a major success, but it clearly features a band that has made a serious step forward.
Best songs: “Death Throes – Hocico Deathfloor Remix”, “A Delicate Balance”, “Death Throes”, “Mad As Hell – Alien Vampires Remix”.
Rate: (7).
Artist: www.offeringstoodin.com / www.facebook.com/offeringstoodin
Promoter: www.facebook.com/xbeatspromotion
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