Ophidian I: Desolate

Ophidian I released their first album in 2012 and then the members shifted their focus to other projects. However, their hopes for Ophidian I were never left behind and so, nine years later, the band is releasing a second album through Season of Mist. It was something worth waiting for. The band has grown musically, and their songwriting is both ambitious and strong.

For this album, Ophidian I took on a big challenge: to write catchy technical death metal songs. I’m serious. They wanted to write music that would stick in the listener’s ear the way other kinds of music can. Since technical death metal requires a focus on chops and intensity, melody sometimes gets lost in the details, especially if the drums are pushing everything else away.

At first blush, Ophidian I sounds like other technical death metal bands. They have the same level of relentless energy, and they never slow down long enough to let anything get away. The members of the band are also incredible players who multiply notes as well as the very best players. And yet, they also, somehow, manage to make their songs catchy in surprising ways. This is sometimes done with rhythmic changes that break things up but is more often done through twin guitar harmonies that are impressive and that stick with you. I doubt you’ll be humming along anytime soon, but you will start to get a sense of what distinguishes tracks like “Jupiter� and “Spiral to Oblivion.�

But no matter the band’s ambitions, listeners have to like what they hear. And they should like this release. The band has done a great job developing their technical chops while also pushing themselves to writer songs that audiences will remember and value in somewhat different ways than with other albums of this sort. I suggest listening to “Wither on the Vine,� the excellent album closer. If you like that, start back at the beginning with “Diamonds� and just let it play all the way to the end. That way, you’ll get to hear the closer twice and you’ll discover a cool album along the way.

Track Listing:
1. Diamonds
2. Spiral to Oblivion
3. Storm Aglow
4. Unfurling the Crescent Moon
5. Sequential Descent
6. Captive Infinity
7. Enslaved in a Desolate Swarm
8. Dominion Eyes
9. Jupiter
10. Wither on the Vine

Added: September 30th 2021
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:
Related Link: Band Twitter Feed
Hits: 455
Language: english

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