Odraza - Rzeczom Review

Poland has a surprisingly impressive lineup of black metallers constantly churning out extremely impactful and groundbreaking releases. Home to significant players like Behemoth, Batushka, and Mgła (all of whom's semi-recent releases, The Satanist (2014), Litourgiya (2015) and Exercises in Futility (2015) respectively, have been praised among the most essential metal albums of the 2010s), as well as underground darlings like Furia (who the members of this band work together with as Massemord), Kreigsmaschine, and Blaze of Perdition, the often-overlooked historical context of perpetual war and religious turmoil has managed to influence a generation of depressed, nihilistic, and misanthropic musicians. Another essential artist in this scene, while unknown to me until May 8th, 2020, Odraza has been performing forward-thinking black metal since 2009. Their 2014 debut, Esperalem Tkane, or Esperal Woven, was met with well-deserved critical acclaim on all fronts. Their sound on both releases is very similar to Behemoth and Mgła, boasting distinctly direct instrumentation and primarily lower growled vocals. But where that album, and subsequently Rzeczom, differ is what happens when there isn't black metal. 

The death metal influence on Nergal, Inferno, and Orion's sound is tantamount to their black metal on The Satanist and I Loved You At Your Darkest, while the melodic sensibilities of M. and Darkside are brilliantly layered upon on Exercises in Futility and Age of Excuse. But this two-piece, comprised of Stawrogin and Priest, is a perfect medium between Behemoth and Mgła while adding their own helping of unique songwriting and sonic experimentation. The first track, "Schadenfreude," otherwise known as deriving pleasure from another's suffering, begins with a quick haunting bell section, and ends with a dissonant groove, but aside from a breakdown about one minute in, the cut is straightforward balls-to-the-wall black metal. The tom-work on this song is particularly jaw-dropping, but the ferocity on all instrumental and vocal fronts is phenomenal. The machine-gun blast beats are ridiculously punchy, while sweeping tremolo melodies weave and up and down the necks on the dueling guitars, and Stawrogin's vocals are equally vile. 

Something else to note on this release is the effort by both members on all duties sans vocals, and it shows. The chemistry throughout the ten songs is extremely natural, and the many different styles that Odraza works black metal into is staggering. For example, the title track, which translates to merely "Things," is what I will call a black metal ballad with a dual vocal attack, and while not nearly as showy as "A Paradigm of Beauty" by Swiss avant-garders Schammasch (which is actual darkwave), the guitars have far more power chords and far less fast-paced drumming. Not to say that their arent any of your favorite black metal staples, but until about two-thirds of the cuts lengths have passed, the song is extremely 'reserved' comparatively to the rest of the project. The constant shifting of styles, atmospheres, dynamics, and everything in between is central to this group's sound, and they pull it off with an unexpected maturity. 

"W Godzinie Wilka," or "At The Wolf Hour" sounds like it was unabashedly ripped off from Mgła, but they do as fine a job as their countrymen mixing despondent riffage with vicious technicality to create a brutal highlight from the tracklist. But this similarity completely fades away with the next cut, "...twoją rzecz też" ("...your thing too"), which threw me for a huge loop. Like "Rzeczom," it is a stark departure from the traditional thought of the genre. Extremely pleasing sonically, the song almost has a marching quality to it, which is contrasted by the commanding barks of the vocals. It sounds like a bunch of drunk men in a pub shouting about the women they used to have and the 'action' they must take after the fact (which, according to shady translations, might actually be the case). 

The tracklist does not let up from here, however. While "Długa 24" ("Long 24") sounds like a short companion and follow up to the song proceeding it, it serves as an excellent showcase of Stawrogin's clean vocal chops, as well a brilliant tie-in the to head-splitting barbarity of "Świt opowiadaczy," or "Dawn of the Storytellers." Similar to the first one off of the album, and another soon to come, it also includes an atmospheric spoken-word break around the midpoint of the cut that eventually builds back to the savagery before it with the help of reverb-laden guitars and lucid tom fills. 

What a listener may find themself realizing at this point is Odraza's formula, or rather, formulas. By touching upon most modern black metal sensibilities, they are able to cover a ton of ground and fully immerse the listeners in the different styles that the genre has to offer while throwing in some weird hoops of their own. "Młot na małe miasta" ("Hammer on small towns") is somewhat reminiscent of the less spastic tracks on the release but has good pacing and enough weird touches to keep coming back. "Najkrótsza z wieczności," or "The shortest of eternity" comes next and builds wonderfully over its five-minute runtime. Toeing the line closer to the satanic side of their countrymen, the "crooning" vocals and rocking and atmospheric instrumentation put a Behemoth-like spin on the song.

But the king among the 53-minute runtime is "Bempo." Even more hate-driven than "Schadenfreude," the cut builds to a massive flurry of unquestionably evil music. With only brief moments of respite, the track is jam-packed with vehement vocals, thundering drums, and demonic guitars. It also has a sick solo, which is just the blood-colored icing on the cake of sadness and depression. "Ja nie stąd," or "I'm not from here," is a great closer showing off their melodic and introspective sound, with traditional rock songwriting, as well as the heavily distorted sound we know and love from our aggressive music genre. The cut is not only the longest on the release, spanning just over eight minutes, but is also the only instrumental one on the album, showing yet another impressive feat of style that is uniquely Odraza.

I could understand both arguments that come to mind when listening to this album and would like to address them: "There is too much variety for the genre" and "All of the songs sound similar." I, for one, have never been one to shun experimentation, especially if it is done well, and therefore, the first argument should only be reserved to purists who haven't realized that Euronymous was kind of a shitty guy too. The second point can be answered also simply. Black metal has a formula and certain techniques that groups have done since the beginning and will continue to use the genre's death, and while Odraza certainly plays around with them, they also stick to their guns when they need to. Stawrogin and Priest are not going to become massive stars for their groundbreaking material, but they deserve all the damn recognition they can get. Rzeczom is a uniquely mature display of modern black metal and is one of the strongest releases to come out this year.

Final Verdict: These guys need to cheer up.
Favorite Tracks: "Bempo," "W Godzinie Wilka," "Schadenfreude"
FFO: Mgła, Behemoth, Furia

Tracklist:
1. "Schadenfreude"
2. "Rzeczom"
3. "W Godzinie Wilka"
4. "...twoją rzecz też"
5. "Długa 24"
6. "Świt opowiadaczy"
7. "Młot na małe miasta"
8. "Najkrótsza z wieczności"
9. "Bempo"
10. "Ja nie stąd"

You can support the band on their Bandcamp