Review Summary: Odi Acoustic's "Time Is A Stranger" has enough good songs to satisfy fans of his Youtube channel or previous album, and enough filler to make a full fifteen track LP.
Odi Acoustic (Lukas Odenthal) grinds out some of the best blink-182 covers on the internet, and can grind out some very good solo project songs too. He is able to take the most unique of songs and puts his own spin on them, with his version of "Dammit" and "Ocean Avenue" by blink-182 and Yellowcard respectively. He is able to take popular songs and warp strong vocals and guitar parts into it to make it unique. But, how is his 100% solo album?
Well, it has its moments.
First off, this album is just happy. It has quite a few songs that just put a huge smile on your face and it has to get props for that.
This album starts with an upbeat song all in German, hence the name "Kein Kompromiss Mehr," which translates to "No More Compromise." We can only guess what the song is about, so we then need to rely on the catchy vocals and the accompiant drums and guitar, which are fine. As much as songs in different languages may be cool, but they lack a way to tell a story, in which we need to turn our brains off and focus on the instruments, which are not all that amazing either. This is a similar issue with "Alles," which translates to "All" or "Everything." These tracks rely on the backing instruments and just the sound of his vocals, which may not work for everyone.
Not all of "Time Is A Stranger" is acoustic, which is a disclaimer that should be made. There are songs with electric guitar, such as the second track "Falling," a song that opens up as a melancholy love song, ending in electric chords and Odenthal echoing "The background music slowly fades away". Electric bass kicks in on tracks such as "Going Down This Road," a wonderfully upbeat song that is a personal favorite for me (although it has a rather jarring use of the word "****"). "Going Down This Road" is a fast and catchy song that just puts a smile on your face, along with a more quiet bassline in the back, which is a nice touch. This track also has a very good use of drums, which are used very well to keep the tempo and energy up, along with "Starting Over."
Lyrically, this is a pretty basic album. There's not too many complex themes or messages going on, but are they really needed? This album goes on fine without breaking barriers in the meaning of life. But, there are a few tracks that are not nearly as good as the others lyrically, specifically "Letting Go," a slow song with a repetitive guitar part and bland vocals, "The Other Side Of Town," which uses the piano, a nice change, but doing something new doesn't make it good, and "Hey Girl," a track that has upbeat lyrics that just drag and drag along.
The main staples of this album are "In December," "Elaine," and "Going Down This Road." "In December" is the main single of this album, ringing thoughts of winter as the title would suggest, bringing a moving intro verse. It may drag a little for some, and that's okay, just listen to the one with drums added on Youtube ~ keeps the beat going much better. "Elaine" may be a song with a stupid reason behind it for some (based around the video game series of "Monkey Island") but it works. The lyrics make much more sense after finding this fact out. Lines like "I would be a mighty pirate, I would be a mighty pirate, you would always be around and LeChuck could never stand a chance" and "The first thing that I had seen was your picture on Melee" sound very odd at a first listen. "Going Down This Road" is a track that just makes you happy, feeling like a nice spring breeze hits you when you hear it (although as previously stated, the "****" was uncalled for).
A few lesser talked about tracks are "Pulsar," "Islands," and "Remember." "Pulsar" may be an overly-obvious filler track (similarly to "Interlude" off of +44's "When Your Heart Stops Beating"), but it is catchy, and wisely uses technological instruments to add something neat to the tracklisting. "Islands" is a very happy song, one that used keyboards in the background to put a bigger smile on your face. This is just a happy song, similar to a few islands that it brings to mind, with Odenthal moving you everytime he sings "Let it go from love (I believe)." "Remember" is a much more sad song, but a very good way to end the album, with amazing lyrics about moving on. "I hope you will remember, what if there's someone else, just a few hundred miles away."
This album has some good flow, too. In fact, the first half of this album is very good. Tracks like "Kein Kompromiss Mehr" or "Slipping Away" aren't as good as the other first seven. After "Pulsar," not as good tracks come in, with the better ones being "Islands," "Alles," "Starting Over," and "Remember."
In the end, Odi Acoustic's "Time Is A Stranger has enough songs to fit in an 8 or 9 track EP but not a 15 track LP. Songs should have been cut to make a more consistent album, but what we got is still very good. Even the duller songs have their moments, and I would recommend fans on Odenthal's Youtube channel to buy this album knowing they'll get some good tunes out of it.
3/5
Favorite Track ~ Going Down This Road
Least Favorite Track ~ Letting Go
I hope you all see improvement since my first trainwreck review, which I hope to fix soon!"
