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Odd Dimension: The Blue Dawn
Odd Dimension - The Blue Dawn Album Art

Odd Dimension: The Blue Dawn

Progressive Power Metal
3.5/5.0

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Scarlet Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 17.03.2021 | Released: 26.03.2021

Here's a band from the "where have they been" file. We last heard from Italy's Odd Dimension some eight years ago with The Last Embrace to Humanity, an ambitious album that showed both originality and experimentation. But now the band returns with their long-awaited third studio album, The Blue Dawn. The album arrives with some new personnel including vocalist Jan Manenti (The Unity) and drummer Marco Lazzarini (Archon Angel, Hell In The Club, Secret Sphere, et al).

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Odd Dimension

Odd Dimension's return is an ambitious one as well. The Blue Dawn is a large sci-fi concept album wrapped in the band's progressive power metal and features multiple vocalists/characters and spoken word narration to advance the story. Fortunately, Scarlet Records advanced me the full lyric sheet, which you can also read, making the concept easier to understand. Because that's something of the conundrum with The Blue Dawn.

First, the story is somewhat difficult to understand: something about intergalactic explorers and settlers, an invasion, a battle, and some supreme creators. The vocals and spoken parts aren't always an asset this case.

Second, the concept is to be carried by the music, but it seems more of a fight between the two for dominance and recognition. Musically, the songs seem to begin and turn on Gabriele Ciaccia's keyboard arrangements, but then they are quickly consumed by aggressive riffs and rhythm section. Even within songs it's a battle between the subtlety and necessity of melody and heaviness of power metal. Guitar solos usually come at the end of songs, yet seem like an afterthought. In the end, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be considering: the story or the music; the just didn't seem to be working together. But there was at least on exception: musically, Invasion sounded like an "invasion" being heavy, dense, and assertive, and the lyrics offered clarity.

All in all, while perhaps inventive and ambitious, I found Odd Dimension's concept album The Blue Dawn to be a difficult and frustrating listen as story and music seemed to contend with each other for my attention. Perhaps you will feel differently.




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The Bottom Line

While perhaps inventive and ambitious, I found Odd Dimension's concept album The Blue Dawn to be a difficult and frustrating listen as story and music seemed to contend with each other for my attention. Perhaps you will feel differently.

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