Album Review; Éohum - Revelations, Aurora Of An Epoch

Released Via Mycelium Networks
Genre: Avant-Garde Black/Doom Metal

To call Eohum an avant-garde band is an understatement, but if you decide not to listen to this record purely on the basis that this is not orthodox music you will be missing out on an interesting and genuinely well-crafted record that twists in and out of the confines of musical convention in order to deliver something that so many black metal bands claim to offer and fail to do so: unique and strangely beautiful metal carved from pure chaos. Imagine if Morbus Chron were massive Neurosis fans that just could not decide what one genre to stick to before throwing caution to the wind and playing damn near every genre in one record. The instrumental track ‘Rooted Deep Within’ shows you all you need to know about this band; they know their instruments (instruments which include a French horn and a trumpet) and they’re completely unafraid to play about with compositional ideas, all the while managing to keep a good flow in the structure of the record. Considering the completely jarring nature of a song such as ‘Defined Sacredness’, it’s incredible that Eohum have managed to incorporate hooks into these tracks. Transitions from fast to slow tempos are completely out of the blue more often than not and the brass instruments should sound sickeningly out of place, but all of these eccentricities, coupled with Cryptopsy vocalist Matt McGachy’s combination of modern metal screams and admittedly rather marmite clean singing form an album that defines Eohum as easily the most original and inventive band out there. ‘Wiser Every Sunrise’ shifts from rhythmic groove metal to sections of spoken word nearly-rap vocals from Phillip Rieder, before the following track opens up with heavy doom metal! Don’t say you weren’t warned; Metal puritans may as well turn and run, but those out there who are out for a musical experience that simply couldn’t be replicated by any other band out there, dig your teeth into this and try to keep your head from exploding.

Rating: 9/10

Links: https://www.facebook.com/pages/%C3%89ohum/821823887910583?fref=ts
           http://myceliumnetworks.com/

Album Review; Dead Existence - Endless Misery

Released Via Black Bow Records
Genre: Doom/Crust Metal

Track Listing:

1. Consume
2. End Devoured By Beginning
3. ...
4. Worthless
5. Tear Apart The Veil
6. Obsidian Black
7. Delusion Of Hope
8. Regretamine

Dead Existence have been making waves, indeed. This record displays why; through a combination of frantic sludgy metal, a definite punk mentality, and a hefty slab of doom metal, Dead Existence have a musical Frankenstein that many people within the echelons of the UK scene’s more influential people will grasp onto with both hands. Lest we forget, doom and sludge metal are ruling the UK metal underground at the moment. However, where many other bands that we see absolutely everywhere at the moment seem to be a tad formulaic, there’s an element of liveliness to Dead Existence through which you can hear some soulful playing and writing. Neurosis are clearly in this group’s list of influences, as shown by the sprawling, ever-shifting nature of this record. End Devoured By Beginning’ starts off with some jazzy drumming and very low-key guitar playing, but it soon bursts into a leviathan-sized riff, complete with furiously barked vocals and more drumming that simply will not be tied down for too long. Naturally, very long songs are the agenda of the day, with all but two of these tracks ducking under the five minute mark. As the album title would suggest, depressive hopelessness is on the mind of Dead Existence, but rather than wallowing stupidly through endless doom metal monotony, Dead Existence choose to seethe for a duration of time before exploding into fury, and as they do this, many interesting musical ideas come to the surface. This is doom metal with a fire in its belly, and I’ll be keeping an eagle’s eye on this band.

Rating: 8/10

Links: https://www.facebook.com/DeadExistenceuk
           http://www.blackbowrecords.com/