Oddyssey

Band: Oddyssey

Nationality:Canadian

Genre: Prog Metal

Links:

http://www.oddyssey-web.com/
www.myspace.com/oddysseyweb

Bio (from site):

IIt all started in September 2002 when Eric Beaudin and Caroline Boucher met. Caroline was part of a cover band, of which she was undeniably the most talented member. Eric being in a "free jam" mode with a couple of friends (Nicolas Diab on drums, among others), he offered Caroline to form a new band focused on composition. Obviously, she accepted (otherwise, we wouldn't be here chatting about it!).

So, they wrote and recorded demos of songs which became Dreams and Crimson Skies. These demos would help to recruit eventual collaborators.

A rhythmic section remained to be found. Nicolas Diab, who had already jammed with Eric lots of times, was offered the drum throne. For bass guitar duties, Lyne Rivest, an old friend of Eric and co-working with Caroline, was invited and she accepted. After a few rehearsals, Lyne realised she lacked the requested time for the project and Nicolas, already taken by another project, couldn't quite find the proper time either. So the first incarnation of the band, called Ephemeris back then (no pun intended), ended abruptly. It was in autumn 2003.

Caroline and Eric then placed an ad on the Internet, in December 2003, to find other musicians. After a few unencouraging encounters, Martin Lefebvre, adorer of feminine vocals, answered to the ad. During the following meeting, it clearly appeared to everyone that something had "clicked". Caroline and Eric really appreciated Martin's ideas, and vice versa. The song writing cluster of what was to become Oddyssey was born. During the following months, the new band began writing new songs so they could have more songs to show to find a rhythmic section. It was during this period that songs like The Monster's Out, Material Freaks and No Laughing Matter were created, to name but a few.

Rhythmic section, take two : Nicolas still busy with his project, Eric contacted Benoît Laliberté, a drummer with whom he had played in the french progressive rock band Parabol in the 90's. The band had quite a few rehearsals, without a bass player, at Benoît's place. But after a few months, Benoît realised that his already tight schedule conflicted with the time the band needed from him, so he decided it would be better for the band AND for him to leave. Curiously enough (though quite satisfactory), Nicolas, following a long period of inactivity in his project, had just become available.

Richard Bilodeau and Caroline, being co-workers, often spoke to each other. She knew he was a musician, but thought he was a guitarist. One day, she asked him if he knew a bass player... "Well, it's my main instrument!!!" Richard, available and interested, agreed to meet with the band. At the first rehearsal with him on bass, another "click" was heard, that of the final missing piece falling into place.

Then came a period of hard work for everyone. Rehearsal upon rehearsal, the band finally recorded it's first E.P., Crimson Skies, in Spring 2005. A few weeks later, on August 27th, Oddyssey began it's voyage on stage as an opening act for bands such as La Traversée and the legendary french rock band Offenbach. Some members from the audience thought they had witnessed the take-off of a strange vessel...


Line Up:

Caroline Boucher - vocals
Martin Lefebvre - electric guitars, keyboards
Eric Beaudin - electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, backing vocals
Richard Bilodeau - bass
Nicolas Diab- drums, percussion

My review:

Oddyssey – Crimson Skies (Demo)

 

This is a great mixture of female vocals and heavy music. Dreams is about keep on moving forward and let the past stay the past, letting all worries and fears and memories stay behind while you move forward. Material Freaks is critical of the consumerism and materialism going on in the world today. It is a good song, except for one section of it. When Caroline Boucher is half talking and half singing her voice is a bit off and doesn’t accent the music like it does in the rest of the song. Crimson Skies has a great guitar riff, very metal (Iron Maiden influences – so it seems to me). Caroline Boucher does a great job singing in this song, it is a perfect match to the darkness the music creates and highlights the lyrics; it gives it a haunting feeling. No Laughing Matter is, as the title suggests, no laughing matter. It is an instrumental that further highlights the skill the band has. The final song on this demo is The Monster’s Out. It has some great duets between Eric Beaudin and Caroline Boucher. It is commenting on the evil of humanity and how it is a monster being unleashed on the world. The music is excellent - metal in most parts -(2 guitars – and they both play keyboards, not to mention a good rhythm section) and the singing is a good match for it.  A great band that is worth looking out for.  

I've not heard that song yet but I did hear The Monster's Out. Great music and impressing voice. 

I shall listen to it a bit more and come back with more in-depths comments.


Edited by Bern - March 08 2007 at 11:05

progismylife wrote: I gave a brief review of all six songs in there. The demo is called Crimson Skies (I think) and one song with that name

Yeah I guess I should have read the whole thing before posting then.

Getting a signed demo EP of a band on the other side of the Atlantic puts one in debt, so the least I can do is write a decent review for Oddyssey's Crimson Skies. And what demo it is....

Dreams acoustic intro, quickly moves on to metal riff and drums. Metal Ballad like, with a relaxed female vocal. After the mid way instrumental (quite atmospheric), the tune gets a bit heavier, toward a second break. Surprisingly, the male backing vocal from the beginning of the track does not return after these two.
What follows are easily the best two tracks on the album. Material Freaks, a varying piece - with heavy parts, a melodic keyboards and vocal only midsection, and great critical lyrics about our modern way of life. Oh man, when Caroline sings 'liposuction' she actually sounds as if the word is being sucked out of her toes through her mouth. Scary ;-) the song as a whole is a treat. Crimson Skies has a great guitar intro, Iron Maiden like, with a slightly surprising slow down into the vocal part.About half way through Caroline's voice and the  heavy guitar in the background remind me of Within Temptation. When I first heard this song from the streams the band's web site, I was wondering how this song's atmosphere could benefit from keyboards. Now I know that keyboards are on there (can be heard better on the CD), but it could have been more - and maybe less electronic sounding. The song ends as it started - with a guitar melody, that makes me yearn for Powerslave.
My Own Destiny strengthens that last feeling. It's a rather dark sounding song at first, then heavy guitar and atmospheric keyboards start taking turns, while the vocalist sings her heart out. Throughout however, there's a guitar mixed in the background that plays a melody line that reminds me (again) of Iron Maiden - Wasted Years this time. And it fits - like an old shoe on your foot.
Next is No Laughing Matter, which builds a wall of sound out of guitar riffs before going into a more melodic but yet guitar oriented midsection. The keyboards are not very prominent but might have been left out all together without damaging the song. Also, this is the first track where I think I can distinguish the bass guitar in the mix - a pity that it's buried so deep in the rest of the EP, but let's not forget that this is still a high quality demo recording.
Closer The Monster's Out is the second song without keyboards on the EP (the other is Dreams), but it has a (guest) violinist to (more than) compensate for this. The drummer is as prominent on the verses of this track as the guitars are in the instrumental parts in between. I can't really tell what story this track is telling, and what the monster is, but the changes in atmosphere and speed (and a nice guitar solo) are continuing long after the vocals have stopped. This is a 7 minute track that could be a mini epic, with 5 minutes of instrumental music.

All in all, I can't help but being reminded of Within Temptation when I hear Oddyssey - although Caroline's vocal is different from Sharon den Adel's, and sometimes also reminds me of Candice Night. However, there are a lot of influences from other bands that can be heard in this demo EP, not in the least bands like Iron Maiden (just listen to that guitar playing in the background and the outro of My Own Destiny).

A big set of clappies for our own Eric 'Melomanica' Beaudain and his band!



Edited by Angelo - May 23 2007 at 17:02

eh... that was quick Ben 

Wow.  This music is lovely and powerful.  I love that the singer isn't afraid to change her style to suit the mood she's going for.  The songs are simple-sounding on the surface but there's a lot going on in there... there are little twists and changes that you can almost miss in between everything, kind of like some of the things Iron Maiden and A Perfect Circle do.  There's a riff that really hooked me in 'Crimson Skies'.  I thought all four songs on the myspace page were solid, I wouldn't be surprised if they get picked up soon by a label...  In particular the drummer caught my attention as not afraid to experiment.  Thanks for posting this band!

That is sad news Eric but it's great that you don't lose any motivation.

Keep on rockin' and good luck with your new demos!

Don't give up, Eric... you'll find the best way, I'm pretty sure!

Sad news - but life is life I guess.

I'll cherish the CD, and don't keep us waiting too long for that new project!