ODOACER
There The Vultures Will Gather CHURCH ROAD
Ageless Oblivion’s tech death guitarist takes the black
Black metal fans can be notoriously insular, so when musicians who’ve been in non-BM bands venture into their grim waters, the drawbridge tends to be raised immediately. Such close-minded behaviour is counterproductive in 2020. As Ageless Oblivion’s David Porter shows on Odoacer’s debut, chops honed through technical/progressive DM can be equally applied to the kind of quasi-Leviathanworship heard here. While Porter may lack the abstract and abject terror at the pith of Wrest’s core, and the resounding production might be ill-fitting for the isolationist-BM-by-wayof-Mg¡a feel he’s going for, there’s cathartic fire to TheUnkindest Cut, Dirge Unto Nemesis’s decree of discordant disorder and the equally sprawling and ambitious closer, Cyclops. The seriousness with which Porter presents his art should silence the staunchest gatekeeper, and time may forge a singular voice.