Odradek Room
Bardo. Relative reality

Their name is from a Kafka short story, they are from Ukraine. That could be a recipe for success or one for disaster, chance is probably equal for both especially considering that they do have vocals in russian and albums having that are usually rather poor. Still, they do have a psychedelic looking cover artwork that could hint towards something challenging for the listener. The story is said to be contrived in part from the Tibetan book of death but also from surreal images of the subliminal consciousness. This is the debut album of these guys and it is a bit of a rework from the album which they released themselves in digital form about a year ago.

It is an album that takes us on a journey, there is a concept to it but it is nothing that comes through other than in the shape of the moods the album shows. The vocals are very sparse and I think most of them are in russian, otherwise the singer has a very thick accent which makes it sound like that. Then again, the vocals are not really something you even think of when listening to this album. It is the many moods, it is like a journey through consciousness or through a surreal landscape I guess it is up to the listener to judge which one it is. It is also music that requires more from the listener, not your everyday easy to digest radio stuff that most listen to but no one can really like as it is simple made-to-template music, this is not. It is a fifty-eight minute adventure for the open-minded. They also show for an excellent production, the sounds is rather great for what it is.

Great album, well worth looking closer at if you are a fan of whatever you would like to call this kind of music. I think post metal, psychedelic progressive doom meta, progressive doom metal or something like that, you can also compare with several band but they are not that close to any of them, just similar. It is an incomparable album. It is for you who think music should come from the heart and soul and be fresh as well as inventive. This album is all of that, and it is exciting as well. Sure it is also a bit demanding for the listener as it is not something that works well as background, it requires your attention and if you give it that it rewards you for it. Impressive stuff.

There is no standout track here, the tracks are more like chapters in a book than individual songs and they complete a whole rather than anything else. If they had a standout track I am not certain that it would be good for the album as a whole as it might be detrimental to the story rather than beneficial. But who knows? All I know is that it is a brilliant and exciting album to listen to, well worth looking closer at for you who takes your music a bit differently and for all of you who really want to just sit down and listen. Exciting stuff, that’s what it is.

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