I’ve never come across Odoacer before so finding out that the man behind the sound is from this quaint little islet of ours gave me that warm glow reserved for anything that feels all homely. Thankfully, ‘There The Vultures Will Gather’ is anything but warm or homely.
This is, in the words of the creator, a catharsis. Achieving such things is never an easy feat and it’s rare that the entire process of creating an absorbing, effective and genuinely expressive record can be fuelled solely by a bearing of the soul and a willingness to dwell universally in the abstract pigeon holes of the mind. However, this album does certainly feel like its creation may have been achieved by exactly that.
With song names such as ‘The Unkindest Cut’, the glorious ‘Left Only With Your Grief Amongst Carrion’ and the hostile incantations of ‘Cyclops’, this letter to oneself draws you in without any hesitation. These are the harrowing notes that we all grasp in a desperate palm and repeatedly stuff into that seemingly bottomless pot that we label ‘Existence’.
This record manages to evoke the seclusion and the depression of losing faith in the world around – yet manages to avoid sitting in that occasionally lifeless realm of depressive black metal. Open your hands and let a little bit drop on the floor below. You’ll not be sweeping it up any time soon.
8/10