Review written by Glenn Van Bockstale.

Recently our host, Stijn “Metal Shredder” Daneels, got contacted by Odium’s vocalist Ralf to review the latest release from his band. Since he knew I got an appetite for all things hardcore and thrash he offered me to shred this little gem!

As The World Turns Black is the eighth album from the German thrash/power metal act Odium, formed in 1993. The album is released through Black Sunset, a sublabel of German record company MDD Records. What immediately strikes me about Odium’s sound is its similarities to Kreator, both in terms of vocals and overall playing style, and the band uses those influences to their full potential. The release kicks off with “The End Of Everything,” a beautiful thrash metal warm up tune that eventually explodes into “Point Of No Return.” Another blood-pumping thrasher with catchy sounding guitar riffs and serious live potential! After that live thrash grenade Odium cools down a bit with the emotionally driven “No Goodbye” but not without unleashing another piece of awesome guitar work and even a slight hint at hardcore punk!

Another song that stands out is the short but effective fourth track called “Blind” that opens with a scorching bass solo from Belinda! And after the song “Revolution,” that goes the same power thrash road as during the first second tracks, you get “Frozen World” that features even some nu-metal inspired melodies. Blasphemy? Hell no! The band remains as good as ever! And finally there are the final three tracks “Time Is A Killer,” “As The World Turns Black” and “Inside The Incubus” that unleash pure 1980s thrash to your eardrums with all the head-banging rage that comes along with it! Great stuff, especially when you’ve just had a bad day at work or school! Take that, life!

Overall, Odium’s latest release was a true pleasure for me to listen to. Ralf’s engaging, up-close-and-personal vocals mixed with the epic guitar riffs from Rochus and David and the mosh inducing beats from Marcel's drums and Belinda's basslines help in giving the album flow an aggressive and bombastic feel yet it also has a silky smooth pace. There’s great balance between the power and thrash metal influences and the little touches of hardcore and nu-metal add a bit of variety to the mix.

In the end, there’s nothing new or revolutionary about Odium’s music, but they know what they’re good at and they pass the trash and power metal tests with flying colors! There are several bands in the underground metal world that call themselves Odium (from the US all the way to Russia) but this German Odium is one band that’s well worth checking out for all you thrash and power metalheads out there! Now I’m really looking forward to meeting these guys because I believe music of this kind is even better when you and I are part of the live crowd! But in the meantime, we can all enjoy the album’s opening track, “The End Of Everything!”

80/100