I was quite happy to see the newest Odinfist EP Come to the Walls hit my mailbox last week. I really enjoyed what I heard in the band’s full-length We Are the Gods from a couple of years back, so I held high hopes for a similar output from my Canadian friends.

Odinfist is the type of power/thrash outfit that the metal world desperately vies for in an expansive oceanic cesspool of ineptitude and plasticity. The band is not going to re-establish the genre with mere nuts and bolts, but it will entertain you in many facets long-thought dead and buried. This little EP is just what the contingent needs, even if they have yet to understand or recognize it.

While I can’t in all good conscience lay claim that this EP is a throwback to the wonderful 1980’s, some of the more astute (and older) guard will certainly hear some expertly antiquated sounds in the solos and basic guitar riffs, which is offered in high complimentary form. The opener “Volcano” is what you might call your ‘typical’ thrash song, complete with a ‘call-to-arms’ scream to kick off the song; in today’s bland and soulless genre-raping what this ‘typical’ tag might imply is left to total and individual subjectivity. The mid-range vocals from Tyler Anderson are some of the more genuine out there, while the ‘screams’ are belted out from the bassist Jesse Valstar with relative ease and reckless intensity. I dig the chorus riff quite a bit, as it seems to call upon some of the more basic, yet fluid tones that make for a solid heavy metal track.

“Grim Toll” is along the lines of the anthem track with ringing tones that speak Judas Priest influence with a much-required eloquence and necessity. I’d go as far as to want to call this traditional metal with power elements and moments of thrashing edges, though calling it all of that stultifies the music and the band. Let’s say it’s strictly-fashioned heavy metal for the diligent masses. By the time the slow-and-steady foray into acoustic sobriety finds me with “Dream of Light” I’m enlightened and cooled off nicely, taking in the scenic visages created with a very Viking-like issuance that sort of reminds me of Nevermore’s “Chances Three”, though vastly differing in topical allure if not musical arrangement and inspiration. The only bothersome thing about it is how it more or less, to me, ended a bit abruptly where I feel a little more musical ‘apex’ could have rounded out the edge a bit, but this doesn’t ruin the track by any means.

This EP is really interesting overall. What Odinfist presents here, much like they did for me with 2010’s We Are Gods, is a much-wanted glimpse into what ‘real’ power metal can offer when not reliant on keyboards and trendy nuances now tired and overused, not to mention unnecessary.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Volcano
2.  Grim Toll
3.  Dream of Light

Total playing time:  11:48

Release Date: February 18, 2012
Label: Band Self Released

Odinfist - Come to the Walls EP

Reviewer: Chris

May 2, 2012