Location: Los Angeles, California
Country: USA
Genre: Metal, folk
Full length: Lawful Evil
Format: Digital
Label: Independent
Release date: March 25, 2016
Although “Lawful Evil” was released a decade ago, I’m mentioning it now because The Dread Crew of Oddwood is planning a tour to celebrate its ten-year anniversary. The grassroots tour in October and December will be their first headlining run since their 2016 tour promoting the album. The stops include Dingbatz in New Jersey, Reggie’s in Chicago, and the iconic Whiskey A Go Go in Los Angeles. The band is bringing the tour to locations they haven’t played before and will dedicate more time to “Lawful Evil,” incorporating “more stage antics” into their live set.
The Dread Crew of Oddwood’s first lineup occurred in 2008 when they met at San Diego Comic-Con of all places. It consisted of the only people who attended a fan meeting for the Sega Genesis game “Ecco the Dolphin,” organized by Wolfbeard O’Brady, the band’s founder and frontman. By a twist of fate or a lucky coincidence, everyone who showed up turned out to be musicians. They started working together, their shared vision quickly gained momentum, and within a year, they released their debut album “Reign the Helm,” which is said to have sparked a new era in metal-based music.
Performing at subsequent Comic Cons helped elevate them from a local fan group to a touring band, leading to appearances at Wacken Winter Nights, 70,000 Tons of Metal, and Heidenfest, among other major metal fests. While Celtic metal and folk metal have proven successful for In Extremo, Eluveitie, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, and Finntroll, this band elevated the genre by inventively leveraging their name, blending metal’s raw energy with Celtic and European folk influences, and weaving tales of piracy, mystery, and myth into their songs. They raised the bar for innovation, approaching their folk pirate metal with greater velocity, keenness, and fervor than similar bands that were around for longer.
Like their three previous albums and their latest “Rust and Glory,” “Lawful Evil” can somewhat fit the “not metal” category, mostly because it wasn’t recorded with loud, distorted guitars and howling solos. Even so, The Dread Crew of Oddwood took an awareness of metal’s potency, drive, and stamina into the studio with them, pouring into the recording sessions the confidence of a band poised to connect with listeners from the stage. The subgenre they’re creating in this way, christened “heavy mahogany,” rings like something they put a lot of thought into.
Despite the absence of volume and distortion, “Lawful Evil” has the sufficient dynamism of an energetic metal album, driven by the conviction of the most fervent band. While the term “heavy mahogany” doesn’t sound typical, it does suit the fast-paced acoustic instruments and frenetic percussion that thrusts the material forward without pausing for a single moment. With a stripped-down backdrop of mandolin, accordion, strings, bouzouki, ukulele, and upright bass, the band invites you on a journey of drinking songs and tales of the high seas, gritty and intense, with bravado, dark camaraderie and occasional gallows humor.
If the energy channeled into their songs had been recorded with electric guitars and bass the effect would be near devastating. Whether capturing the fierce loyalty of a pirate crew with a commanding and threatening tone, boldly celebrating the crew’s loyalty and fierce spirit, painting pictures of being lost at sea, lured by sinister voices, or crash landing on uncharted islands and meeting bizarre creatures, The Dread Crew of Oddwood delivers listeners to a bygone era—the age of pirate ships raiding Aegean and Mediterranean vessels for goods, cargo, or hostages, inviting anyone who listens to them or sees them live to accompany them on their adventures. Encouraging participation, they make you part of the high-seas escapades of pirates raiding vessels or encountering otherworldly creatures. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Wolfbeard O'Brady: Vocals, accordion, flute, harpsichord, guitar
Smithy Crow: Bass, violin, vocals
Stark Cordwain: Bouzouki, tin whistle, horn, vocals
Legendary Pirate King Eric "The" Brown: Drums, percussion, vocals
Deckard Cordwain: Mandolin, tenor banjo, vocals
Riven Rahl: Toy Piano, piano, organ, vocals
Track list:
1. Join The Ranks
2. Side Quest
3. Heavy Mahogany
4. Sulfur
5. Siren's Song
6. Expedition on Heavy Submarine
7. Humours of Oddwood Isle
8. Raise Your Pints
9. Sand Lobster
10. Whalin' Rumbo
11. Trollwhack
12. The Gleeman
13. Storm Riders
14. Dead Man's Medley
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