Feburary 2024 - Feature Release - The North Edition
This month's feature release features a rabbit-hole type release that I found myself in after coming across two full-length albums from the one-man Black Metal outfit Odz Manouk out of California, USA. I quite liked their 2023 material, especially Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան), but I found out they had released their self-titled debut 13 years earlier and it seemed to be quite the underground cult hit. While I'm sure that people are getting a bit tired of the constant barrage of one-man projects in Black Metal, it feels like it's been a few months since highlighting a more classic sounding album with a bit of eerie and sinister atmospheric flairs thrown in. Feel free to post your thoughts or reviews below for this month.
https://metal.academy/releases/31995
It's been a while since I revisited the debut album from notorious one-man Californian black metal artist Odz Manouk but this feature release has been beautifully timed to come off the back of the very positive experience I had with Yagian's long-awaited 2023 sophomore album "Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)" which was one that went pretty close to dragging classic status outta me. "Odz Manouk" is generally considered to be a classic release for the genre in itself & it's certainly very solid but I'm not sure I'd go that far, despite it possessing some admirable qualities. An exceptionally cold & lo-fi production job is the cassette's main calling card & boy is it effective, giving the atmosphere an extra couple of layers of menace & spite. Yagian's vocals are the other highlight as he really nails that evil, tortured & abrasive style perfectly, particulary on the classic opener "A Mymex Omen" which is frankly one of the greatest examples of the genre you'll find. Unfortunately, Odz Manouk can't manage to repeat the dose across the other five songs included with the quality levels showing a bit of unwanted variety as the tracklisting progresses. The very popular "The Indisciplinarian" doesn't do a lot for me in all honesty & is the only genuine weak point in my opinion while closer "The Roaming" is merely acceptable. The other three tracks are all high-quality examples of their type though which makes "Odz Manouk" an essential listen for fans of the US black metal scene. The one element that I think could have been improved is the use of a fairly cheap sounding drum machine which is pretty obvious at times. I don't recall noticing it on "Bosoragazan (Բոսորագազան)" which I consider to be the better record overall. Still... there's a lot to like about Yagian's debut full-length & I've really enjoyed this return visit.
4/5