ODINFIST
ODINFIST “Remade In Steel”
By Dr. Abner Mality
What on Earth is going on in Canada’s Okanagan Valley? This peaceful area, home to lake monster Ogopogo, is suddenly producing a ton of metal bands, with ODINFIST being the latest to cross my desk. Something more than Ogopogo is in the water there…
Getting serious Marvel Comics vibes from the cover of this one...almost Jack Kirby or John Buscema. With a cover like this, I know already where ODINFIST is coming from musically. Yep, sure enough, they are a classic metal band. I smell a ton of METAL CHURCH and SAVATAGE here...not the usual PRIEST/MAIDEN overtones, which I think is an advantage. The song “Deadline” is as SAVATAGE as it gets, right down to the Jon Oliva like yelps of Tyler Anderson.
The band’s heart is for sure in the right place, but something seems to be just a little off here. Not to the point where this is a bad album, but instead maybe one that isn’t reaching their full potential. The production is nothing special, with both drums and bass lacking thump and hiding pretty far back in the mix. Those qualities definitely need to be brought more to the forefront. And as far as the vocals of the aforementioned Mr. Anderson go, something is just...off. Again, not to the point where they can be called awful, there’s just something in the phrasing that doesn’t seem quite right.
Otherwise, this is heavy duty old school metal. The simplicity of the title track stands out for me and the opening “Riffmaster” cranks along pretty well, with lots of lead axework. ODINFIST is drawing inspiration from the right places, their approach just needs tweaking as it isn’t quite the top tier of trad metal worship yet.