Review from Hallowed.se

May 7, 2013
From: Hallowed.se
Published: May 1, 2013
Original Link

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.

Rating: 5/7
Reviewed by: Daniel Källmalm

  

 

Review from Alternativ Musik

May 1, 2013
From: Alternativ Musik
Published; May 1, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of German review

The Odradek moves around the house round about, according to your own rules, it speaks grown, but his features are childlike, laws do not apply to this. So at least in the history of the care of the father's house of Franz Kafka. Surreal, only dimly imaginable and now a part of the name of the band originating from the Ukraine. Thematically, their first album, however based on the Tibetan Book of the ...

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Review from Headbang.it

April 29, 2013
From: Headbang.it
Published: April 23, 2012
Original Link
*Google translation of Italian review

A silent onset of despair and feeling. Good for the first Ukrainians Odradek Room and their rocky doom / death tinged with melancholy and reverb. I think the last thought occurred to them during the songwriting process has been to electrocute in an immediate way, I agree that the genre usually does not strike immediately for bias, however, the first impression we give the same in some So, instead with ...

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Review from Music Swept Away the Colours

April 25, 2013
From: Music Swept Away the Colours
Published: April 24, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of Spanish review

What can save Kafka relationship with Tibetan Buddhism? I think as reviewing the curricula vitae of this band with unusual name. The tormented vision of Prague writer, full demons and loneliness, it may fit with the premises of doom. As in Kafka's work, Odradek Room project images and shadows of our unconscious. There is beauty in the decadent and the perception of reality in a world s...

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Review from Rock Metal Essence

April 24, 2013
From: Rock Metal Essence
Published: April 21, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of Italian review

Straight from the wilds of ' Eastern Europe , more precisely from the Ukraine, arriving four guys who want to have their say in the world of metal, releasing their debut album " Bardo. Relative Reality ", released on March 9, 2013 by Hypnotic Dirge Records . The name of this young band is Odradek Room , inspired by the eponymous short story by Franz Kafka .

In addition to having excellent taste i...

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Review from Metal Recusants

April 18, 2013
From: Metal Recusants
Published: April 18, 2013
Original Link

Odradek Room is a young Ukrainian band has the means to conjure up everything that’s interesting and compelling about melodic death/doom and post-metal/post-rock and mash it up in a fulfilling and coherent mass of sound, as exemplified here in Bardo. Relative Reality, their debut album through Canadian label Hypnotic Dirge Records, who have a preference towards doom and ambient/atmospheric metal bands, so there’s no surprise that ...

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Review from Heathen Harvest

April 2, 2013
From: Heathen Harvest
Published: April 2, 2013
Original Link

In the modern age, the music industry is truly an unfathomable anomaly in every sense of the word. Artists, bands, and smaller projects surface as quickly as they disappear, completely submerged in the vortex  of ether, dissolving into clouds populated with copious amount of others. Sadly, many of these so-called pop artists are the ones that get signed to large labels, only to make millions and generate fame whoring and undeserving pr...

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Review from Sea of Tranquility

April 1, 2013
From: Sea of Tranquility
Published: April 1, 2013
Original Link

With a band named after a short story by Franz Kafka, and an album which is partially inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, you probably expect this album to be progressive and artistic. And, well, the debut album from the Ukrainian band Odrakek Room is indeed progressive and artistic.

The core style of death-doom, which means that the songs evolve around heavy songs featuring melancholy galore and growled vocals (think early Ana...

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Review from Lachryma Christi Webzine

March 30, 2013
From: Lachryma Christi Webzine
Published: March 29, 2013
Original Link

Ukranian band Odradek Room just released a new album called Bardo. Relative Reality. through Hypnotic Dirge Records. It is not Black Metal, they are actually labeled as Progressive Melodic Death/Doom Metal, but they are actually very Post-Metalish and good, that's why Lachryma Christi decided to include them on the reviews. This is a very busy time, but this record is so good that couldn't just be ignored.So, basically this i...

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Review from Metalzone Webzine

March 29, 2013
From: Metalzone Webzine
Published: March 28, 2013
Original Link
*Google translation of Italian review

Kafka must have affected not just the trio of Ukraine in question as Odradek Room is the name of a story by the brilliant writer. However these three shady characters unexpectedly come from the East offering something that without a doubt I can recommend to lovers of the French project Alcest, type of music that is having serious repercussions throughout the duration of this "Bardo. Relative Real...

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 ODRADEK ROOM -
BARDO. RELATIVE REALITY.


Released: March 9, 2013
500 Copies (250 digipack, 250 jewel case)
Atmospheric Death-doom Metal