Izrod "Sarajevski Odisej" CD

Although "new" in name, Izrod are hardly newcomers. Hailing from the ever-fertile Bosnian scene, the four men behind this shadowy collective have largely helped put the small country on the international black metal map - first with Cave Ritual over a decade ago and then with Void Prayer thereafter, with both bands belonging to the incredibly prolific Black Plague Circle cabal. The latter band ceased activities last year, but a rebirth was no doubt brewing...

At last, it is here with Izrod and the band's first full-length, Sarajevski Odisej. Those who've been following these four men should surely recognize the sonic shift that's been bubbling since 2019; although not drastic by any stretch of the imagination, Izrod nevertheless marks a dramatic new epoch for them. Sharpened to a gleaming clarity that somehow reveals ever more dirt roiling beneath the surface, Sarajevski Odisej builds blazing-skyward songwriting that seemingly shifts in impossible ways. Serpentine melodies twist in and out of actually-tuneful dissonance and the coiling violence surges with triumphant fire, all while almost-jazzy interludes dot the landscape with class - and menace. Likewise for the leads: ripping and ecstatic, they are soulful and soul-sundering. When witnessed from a wider whole, IZROD take plausibly-pro BLACK METAL in a direction that both honors the artform's most ancient ways and the brazenness to not be shackled by more-underground-than-thou thinking. Sonic parallels can be drawn to the original orthodox movement of the mid-2000s or more recently the Icelandic scene spearheaded by Misþyrming. But truly, IZROD are their own masters, and Sarajevski Odisej is but the first audial evidence of that mastery.

Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=XOrvHhDmLO4