I love bands that have the energy and passion in their sound but also still tie into the familiar sounds we all know and love. Take Italy’s Ekpyrosis who excel at both. At the onset,after the customary eerie intro, listen to opening song “Profound Death” and you will judge for yourself as well. The intense opening salvo of the guitars, the riffing, the drums. You have the powerful vocals of Marco and with additional vocals from guitarist Nicolo,( he also being of band Blasphemer and ex Daemoniac) one which gives a shouted deep roar and another of a much lower register and you will notice the intense energy coming from them both, emanating from their inner depths. This song is a good representation of all their sound.

Listening the band as a whole, influences, thoughts and headbanging will come to mind and acted out, the music brings to mind Incantation, some Immolation and for you old skool metal dogs, you may remember Toledo Ohio’s Gutted from early 90’s.

So the album is not all speed, plenty of mid paced groove, the heavy riffing from the depths of death metal hell, those moments of Incantation-isms, some big bass drops, (But not overdone) some guitars squeals and pitches a la Immolation and listen to song “God Grotesque” for that prime Gutted influence. Listening to each song, brings all these different elements together, to which I congratulate the band for making it work, in all its 40 min glory, it’s not overdone or drawn out in any way.Some may say that it could be the “heard it all before” syndrome but their sound has that youthful abandon that just glues your ears to the speakers.

Yes, some bands are stronger, some bands nail that production in spades, I’m sure we can all name a few but as said before, they definitely brought a smile to my face. I mentioned Incantation, because although the influence is readily apparent, I feel Incantation have the edge (of course) in mood,atmosphere and skill but Ekpyrosis just give you that aforementioned deathly abandon that makes it worthwhile. Go with songs like “Immolate The Denied” and “Morticians of God”, all the power, that (Gutted) groove and energy just draws you in further and makes you want to crank it louder.

Drummer Ilaria Casiraghi gives a great performance that melds well with the bass groove and giving the guitars their space to shine. On this note, some have made notice of the production being a bit uneven, or album pacing, I say no to both. Production is warm and guitars have a decent fuzz to the tone, bass is a bit buried but drums have have a full sound, so for a first release, I feel it is well done effort and being the band started in 2013, makes me look forward to later albums to see if they take this further. Also, has part of my listening with my eyes review process, I love the cover artwork, definitely sets the stage of what you are about to listen to.

So with the homage to the old gods, and that youthful energy, make for a great (albeit not groundbreaking ) release from the Memento Mori label.

[Visit the band's website]

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