Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Tukaaria / Odz Manouk - Tukaaria / Odz Manouk (2011)

The obscure and reclusive nature of black metal artists does occasionally uncover some real gems if you can travel far enough off grid (well, onto YouTube as it happens) to find them.  Having never heard of either of these artists going into this EP I was suspicious as to why they had never surfaced in some of the conversations I have with internet peers who firmly reside in the underground part of the scene.  Reading Daniel's mini-bio in his review helped me understand why and soon enough I was embroiled in the five tracks on offer, noting almost instantly of the difference between the swarming frenzy of Tukaaria and the more structured and intelligent form of Odz Manouk.

Suffice to say that I much more prefer the contribution of Odz Manouk here.  There is a raw energy to the otherwise very accessible structures that really set the two tracks from him apart when compared to those of Tukaaria.  Odz Manouk perform some foot-stomping black metal that bashes its way into your memory banks. The Scavenger looms over the listener hovering on ferocious tremolos and haunting atmospherics (and that mauling melodic guitar stab that cuts like a blunt and filthy blade across your flesh on a couple of occasions), whilst those abhorrent vocals just spew all over you.  Meanwhile (the personal highlight for me of the release), The Sloth is a beast of a track.  Starting off all crawling and rhythmically lumbering it rumbles on for nearly nine perfect minutes of uncomfortable and stifling black metal that rams it's tongue down your throat.

By comparison the Tukaaria tracks lack much in the way of presence for me.  Whereas the Odz Manouk tracks stay with me and did so from the first play, the three Tukaaria ones sort of pass me by and I find very little to praise from his offering.  If this was just an Odz Manouk EP then we would be seeing the higher scores.  However, when taken as a whole the EP is not a consistent entity and so I struggle to get above the halfway point of the scorecard as a result.