The Odysseys

Tracklisting:Neuronaut
Maybe
A Slight Awakening of the Subconscious
The Rendering of the Maelstrom
The Myth of Elgido:
i. Bolero
ii. Lone Stranger
iii. The Return and Conflict
iv. Epilogue

Remember when the Moody Blues weren’t an adult contemporary band? When you could pick up one of their albums and hear songs that actually verged on rocking out, even if only a little bit?
OK.
Now take that sound, mix in some healthy doses of Wolfmother-like heaviness, wordplay that would make Strawbs vocalist/lyricist Dave Cousins beam with pride (and, admittedly, some lyrics that will make you cock your head and go “What?”), and wrap it in a fairly modern sonic mix, and you might come up with something that sounds like the Odysseys, a young band from Toronto. Their self titled debut release is an enjoyable, if somewhat uneven, mix of classic and contemporary influences that manages to mix those divergent influences in a pretty seamless way.

Album opener “Neuronaut” is the most ostentatiously heavy track on the album, pounding the listener with a relentlessly pacey beat while simultaneously mixing in some quieter, space elements to keep things changing. “Maybe” mixes in some seriously evident Moody Blues influences, including chorused vocals that sound as if they’d been lifted nearly wholesale from the Moodies’ “Tuesday Afternoon.” We also get some humourous “WTF” lyrical moments, such as:
“Lately, I fell in love with another girl
Lately, I’ve been feeling like a cinnamon swirl.”
Out of left field, totally weird, yet it fits the song in ways that no other lyrics might have.

As this is a prog album, one needs the obligatory epic, and the Odysseys have not failed to include one. On this release, it shows up in the form of the 4-part album closer “The Myth of Elgido.” The track opens with the fun, Latin inflected “Bolero,” a worthy candidate for use of that title. Handclaps, strummed acoustic guitar, synth strings and a jaunty beat give way to Joe Sciarrillo’s slightly nasal vocals (not meant as a criticism; his vocals fit the material well). The track itself is an expansive composition, and until taking a closer look at the disc and the track timings, it was hard to believe that it was a single, nearly 20-minute work. It flows well from section to section, with enough diversity to keep the listener involved.

No single member of the band stands out on this release. While this might sound somewhat like a criticism, it is instead more complimentary, in that it shows the band as a band; that is to say, they work as a single element for the songs, rather than to allow one instrumentalist to showboat. Multiple layers of keyboards enrich the group’s compositions, while Robert John and Cortney Keywan are an able and solid rhythm section, neither lacking nor showy. Sciarrillo also contributes some solid guitar leads, leaning toward multitracked and harmonized guitars which add yet another element of orchestration to the mix (the harmony leads on album closer “The Myth of Elgido” bring to mind Gilmour’s harmonies on Animals, by way of positive comparison).

The album’s mix is reasonable yet occasionally surprisingly thin; one might think with three keyboardists, layered guitars and vocals, and so on, that the mix would be every bit as rich throughout. On occasion, however, the band’s sound seems to float away a bit, loosening up where a tighter, more grounded mix might have added intensity. Having said this, this is a debut release, and as such shows a band still finding their sound and their place. The Odysseys should be a band to watch out for in the future. Their self-titled debut release offers up evidence of that. A little more growth and development, and additional experience in the studio, should mold them into a new progressive band worthy of note.

Band Members:Joe Sciarrillo – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards
Cortney Keywan – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards
Sheldon de Souza – keyboards, percussion, drums, vocals
Robert John – drums & percussion - Progscape.com

Odysseys, The: The Odysseys

The Odysseys arrive from Canada not with a gust of cold Northern wind but with a warm spring breeze. Sure, Joe Sciarrillo mimics Ozzy Osbourne’s pained voice on “Neuronaut,” the progressive hard-rock juggernaut that opens the band’s self-titled debut. But much of the rest of The Odysseys takes listeners on a sonic journey — an odyssey, if you will — through progressive and folk arrangements, jazz progressions, Latin beats, and clever lyrics seemingly birthed in some mysterious netherworld: “The walls began to breathe and move/Nobody’s stories told the total truth/My head, expanding to the edge of the sky/My feet, calmly treading on the frontiers of the mind.”

The quartet features three keyboardists (yet sounds nothing like Saga) and invokes early psychedelic Pink Floyd (“The Rendering of the Maelstrom”), Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (“Maybe”) and the Flower Kings (the 19-and-a-half-minute, four-part epic “The Myth of Elegido”). The use of multiple singers adds depth to these five songs, but muddy production hampers the overall enjoyment of this music – which should ooze from your speakers like golden honey. Nevertheless, the production woes sound less glaring with each subsequent listen as The Odysseys weave a spell that's worth falling under.
Track Listing:
1) Neuronaut
2) Maybe
3) A Slight Awakening of the Subconscious
4) The Rendering of the Maelstrom 5) The Myth of Elegido
a) Bolero
b) Lone Stranger
c) The Return & Conflict
d) Epilogue

Added: April 10th 2007
Reviewer: Michael Popke
Related Link: http://myspace.com/odysseysband
Language: english

This article comes from Sea of Tranquility
http://www.seaoftranquility.org The URL for this story is:
http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?sid=4975
- Sea of Tranquility