Review: Wothrosch – Odium

Review by Jeger

Wothrosch – Odium

Record Label: Hammerheart Records

Year: 2023

Rating: 8.5/10

Suppose Acherontas, visionary and proprietor of Zazen Sounds, VP Adept and Lucifer’s Child conjurer and owner of Pentagram Studio, George Emmanuel, have their hands in it. In that case, it’s no doubt a most worthy artistic endeavor. These two Enterprisers of Black Metal have become Sages of the Greek Black Metal scene: producing/engineering records, prestigiously representing bands and recording their own astounding music. This year, the aforementioned VP Adept acquired the talents of an Athens, Attica, Greece-based band known as Wothrosch for his label, Zazen Sounds – a project that released its first LP, “Odium”, in 2023 via the venerable Hammerheart Records. George Emmanuel handled all of the engineering work.

Wothrosch

The Greek scene is renowned the world over for producing some of the world’s finest Black Metal. When compared to the Scandinavians, the Hellenic product is of a richer-woven tapestry. The Finns, for example, are known for their raw and melodic brand of Black Metal, the Nords are notorious for their frigid and aggressive style and the Swedes? Epic, melodic as well and Occult-driven. But with Wothrosch, Rotting Christ worship is not the modus operandi like it is for so many other Greek collectives. Nothing theatrical or dramatic, just Black Metal with a Blackened DM touch – Blackened Metal of the most brutal consort. Imagine Septicflesh but stripped of the symphony elements. With “Odium” Wothrosch call upon the thunder, and surely do they bring it.

Black Metal for sin and for the annihilation of the wretched! Dangerous as waking a sleeping Nephilim – roused from his bestial slumber and proceeding to deafen the Heavens with the cries of a thousand slain. “Child” is the opening track and zero time is wasted. Wothrosch make their presence felt with malicious intentions: behemoth rhythms and pummeling riffs to drop you to your knees. Vocalizations, both wailing and brutal to ignite the atmosphere into a Hellish inferno that engulfs anyone and everything it touches, scorching it all into a heap of pathetic remains. Production quality? Pristine but not sanitized. Mixing? Another stellar feat for George Emmanuel. Nothing experimental or awkward sounding, only the kind of depth and the kind of integrity that George is renowned for.

There’s not too much in the way of melodic allure here. “Odium” is raw sonic torque through and through. Just relentlessly dropping the groove hammer. But “Disease” is an exception. Just above all of the chaos, fluttering, melodious tremolo passages emit into the atmosphere with an urgent, but also a delicate sensibility like lightning cracking the skies over a writhing field of battle, while “Sinner” engages the listener with stark cinematic visualizations – a hate-fueled Daemon tearing through his human victim like a Grizzly Bear through a fawn. A slow-burner until the midway point when the pace picks up and more of those ominous sequences unfold over destructive double-bass currents.

This is 53 minutes worth of suffering on a massive scale. The agony of a thousand years and of a thousand damned souls incarnate. Perdition’s unforgiving clutch to drag you through a dread-laden mire as would a killer schlep his lifeless victim through some foul bog. The only downside to this album is the fact that it would’ve been more palatable, more digestible with about ten minutes worth of runtime shaved off. Outside of that, “Odium” is top shelf BM. An exhaustive affair indeed, but mostly in a good way. Epic Black Metal: transcendent, powerful and commanding. Bow to it!