Dødsdrift – Ødnis (Recommendation)

Remember the good old days, when the only source of music recommendation either were magazines or the cover of a record? If you had a magazine which covered your taste you were lucky and often found your musical soulmate in those written lines.

If you haven’t got a magazine to help you, were on your own in the records store. In that case you needed some criteria to apply whether you spend your money on an album or not. In a lot of cases, an album cover would be a good indicator. If a band put effort into their cover it sometimes gave the album that certain extra or was the reason you never touched a certain album.

Black Metal is a genre which heavily relies on aesthetics (remember when Deafheaven dropped Sunbather?) Dødsdrift sets the mood perfectly with the cover of their new album Ødnis. A tree with no leaves on an empty field: the perfect mindset for a Black Metal album.

The fact that this is sung solely in German adds another atmospheric layer on this already very dark album. The German language is hard in many ways (those foreign learners of you will know), German Black Metal just sounds even more “grim”. Song titles like “Enthauptet” (Beheaded) or “Adern des Abgrunds” (Veins of the Abyss) speak for the themselves.

Ten tracks in round about 45 minutes will leave you restless. Just like a harsh winter wind breezing in your face, this album on the one hand will leave you feel cold but on the other hand, there is always some sort of cleansing in setting oneself in such an uncomfortable position.

The fact that there are no long tracks makes the album feel very entertaining (sounds odd in a Black-Metal context, but I’m at loss for words). Black Metal shroud after Black Metal shroud pummels you deeper and deeper into that image of the cover: alone, yet sill powerfully rooted to remain.

Ødnis is every bit a great, modern Black Metal album. A good production combined with the aforementioned dark atmosphere and sharp guitars, blasting drums and some occasional hints of melodies.

Ødnis is another great release in the already great catalogue of Vendetta Records. Every fan of bands like Downfall of Gaia, Der Weg einer Freiheit or Wiegedood should latch their ears onto this album.