AXIOMA ETHICA ODINI

WOW! I have been a slave to the Prog Archives for well over a year now, and it has completely revamped my tastes (no longer appalled by growls) and exponentially expanded my musical universe. I do still tend to the metallic edge of prog, but my eyes have been openned!

And so after discovering and falling in love with Opeth, Disillusion, Orphaned Land, Sigh and others, I am choosing this album to commence my experience as a reviewer. Why? Because as much as I love those aforementioned bands, when I heard the first notes of Ethica Odini I knew I was in for a treat.

I have listened to Isa a number of times and believe it to be an extraordinary album in its own right, but I believe Axioma displaces it as the Enslaved masterpiece. There is not a note out of place here. The production is superb. Whereas the growl vocals (and the vocals in general) are too far down in the mix in ISA, here they are perfect. The balance of clean and growled vocals is perfect too, with each playing a role in enhancing the overall effect this album has.

What strikes me right away as I listen is that this album seems perfectly organic. Every subsequent note grows perfectly out of the preceding note. There is not a moment where I think...maybe that should have been a little different. You can find yourself almost predicting the next note. Which is not to say that the music is predictable. Far from it....it is just so natural.

I'm not a musician. I wouldn't know a time signature if one fell on me, but I can appreciate the astonishing tempo changes evident here. And the musicianship is obvious as well. But when all is said and done, it is the fact that the catches and hooks are completelly memorable. The sound is full and rounded and atmospheric. When Enslaved does aggressive, they do it here with a nuance that makes it seem so much more approachable than some of the aural assaults out there. Yes there are blast beats and crunching riffs but they are delivered with extraordinary texture. Every piece has moments of sublime melody as well. In a holistic sense, the album has tremendous flow and composition with each piece occupying the right space. All in all, the whole is better than the sum of the parts, and the parts are magnificent.

An assured masterpiece, and one that I am sure will be a high water mark for the genre for many many years. Highlights include Ethica Odini, Waruun, Singular, and the remarkable Lightening, but there really are no weak moments here at all.