Album Review: Her Majesty - 'Odious (EP)'

In a genre that is flooded by generic bands playing recycled riffs, Her Majesty have done well in making an EP that is interesting and unique enough to genuinely catch my attention. The young five piece tech-death outfit are about to embark on a national tour to promote the release, entitled ‘Odious.’ I have a feeling that at the tour’s conclusion Her Majesty could be a name frequented within the Aussie metal circuit.

The first sound you hear out of the EP is a simple, yet haunting symphonic passage that may at first seem a little gimmicky, until the atmosphere is completely shattered by the ultra-low gutturals of vocalist Jesse Burr – giving an early indication that the Bendigo youngsters mean business. As a vocalist, Burr is the complete death metal package – the 20-year-old’s arsenal of growls, screams and snarls are well developed and on par with some of the best in the genre.

After the initial impact of the vocal entry, the listener is left little time to recover before they are hit by a fragmented, chainsaw-like riff that features some genuinely awesome guitar tone. From then on, the EP doesn’t really slow down, the rest of the opening track, Extinction Through Eradication is laden with crushing riffage and sweet atmospheric progressions.

The Embodiment of Weakness and Harvest the Dead seem to take cue from more classic death metal sources but are twisted and wrought into Her Majesty’s apparent style utilizing more atmospheric progressions and some sweet pause-and-release breakdowns. Odious gets a step heavier with Repudidate and then again with Omnipotent, giving the entire release a juggernaut effect. My biggest gripe is that with the closing passage of Omnipotent, the release feels far from complete. Fair enough it’s a five-track but there isn’t a sense of finality at the song’s conclusion, making the EP feel more like a series of high-quality demos.

Odious is not without it’s borrowed elements - the intro to Omnipotent clearly takes cue from Whitechapel’s ‘This is Exile’ and there are definitely some interchangeable riffage, but all in all this is an interesting EP and one is on regular rotation in my bedroom.

Rarely does a band within the death metal genre come along and bring something new to the table. Her Majesty have released an impressive debut 5-track that will undoubtedly make waves within the Australian metal community. Although the EP feels like more like a series of high quality demos than a proper release, it features enough depth and diversity to hold interest for any fans of technical death metal.

1. Extinction Through Eradication

2. The Embodiment of Weakness

3. Harvest The Dead

4. Repuditate

5.Omnipotent