REVIEW: Vexatious - Odium [2020]
Artist: Vexatious
Album: Odium
Lets talkfor a second about hate. While itdoesn’t feel that way, hatred isactually one of the most complex emotions a human being can generate—as aresult, it’s one of few specifically humanemotions. True hatred requires the activation of several cortical areas of thebrain, including extensive areas of the frontal lobe, portions of the mesialtemporal lobes (memory, recognition) and some areas of the insula (interroception).Hatred is complex, messy and uniquely human—evenin spite of its primal hold on the psyche. Odium—asidefrom the title of the breakout full-length record by Michigan heavy-hittersVexatious—is a term describing hatred (usually of the deep and burning kind)for someone as a result of their actions; a deserved, visceral hate, the samekind of hate that courses through every second of Vexatious’ 2020 full-lengthrecord. Odium is oppressive, an auralonslaught combining elements of nu-metalcore, deathcore and more into a bombastic,explosive record that takes the listener on a tour through heaviness bothlyrical and instrumental.
Odium borrows instrumental elements frommetalcore’s broad subsects and blends them together, culminating in Vexatiousproviding us a record that is bouncy, bold, breakdown-laden and groovy all inone. From the closing portions of the record’s introductory track through thefading moments of “Degrade,” these Michigan metallers weave hauntingnu-metalcore into raw, blistering metalcore with prodigal expertise. “Treason”is one such example, where break-neck drums segue into spine-shrinkingbreakdowns. Meanwhile, the whimsical-yet-wretched leads in “Adversary” give thetrack a distinctly metallic flair, a brazen juxtaposition against thebreakdown-laden “Severed.” These metallic elements work together to make Odium a record less defined by a singlesubgenre of metalcore, but rather by sheer aggression, as, during it’s entire25-minute run time, Vexatious don’t let up on the gas once. Where the drummingis rapid and technical, and girthy bass and grisly fretwork follows suit—and wherethings slow down and beat at the listener like sledgehammers. Where thetechnical sides of Vexatious are rare, they are also excellently placed,breaking up what would otherwise be somewhat tedious stretches ofno-holds-barred brutality. This prevents Odiumfrom lapsing into monotony, even if there could be room for a little more riffand groove in the mix of the band’s otherwise straightforward (albeit sinister)approach to heavy music,
In theintroduction, the word “deathcore” was tossed around—and while Vexatious,instrumentally, aren’t really a “deathcore” band, their vocal element certainlyborrows from some styles and intonations that are hallmarks of the genre. “Drained”and “Grim” are excellent examples, where vocal variety is abundant with stylesranging from grisly bellows to piercing high shrieks. Other songs—the single “Treason”for example—focus less on variety and more on energy and endurance, usingrapid-fire cadence and patterning to keep the listener on the edge of theirseat. In a sense, this is another aspect of Odiumthat saves Vexatious—as the vocal energy and abundance of various stylesmanages to give each song a different feel, even while there are some lyricalmoments that stray dangerously close to blunders (the closing tracks, “Grim”among them feel lyrically weaker overall). In this fashion, the vocal elementson Odium work brilliantly with theinstrumentation, each finding ways to keep things fresh and exciting for thelistener.
As itstands, twice now I’ve mentioned things that “save” Vexatious—which is a littlemean, as the band don’t truly needsaving—but there are some areas where the band narrowly averts distaste.Vocally, the band is superb, point blank. However, instrumentally, many songson Odium feel similar, left only to acouple key moments in each to really let them stand out. As the band’s debutfull-length release, it’s an understandable and common pitfall, and it is largely rectified with several songssounding just different enough to give the record structure and flow. With thatsaid, Odium isn’t perfect, but it’salso a damn good effort by a youngand promising heavy band. Ultimately, Vexatious do more things right than theydo wrong, making this record a hard one to hate.
8/10
For Fans Of: Sworn In, Bodysnatcher, VCTMS
By: Connor Welsh