From the school of blackened death metal come Ephialtes. “Melas Oneiros” is a debut album but there’s no shortage of experience in this band which is headed by Quazarre whose cv includes Devilish Impressions, Asgaard and Crionics.
Menace lurks everywhere, the mood is constantly tense and sinister, and it’s like standing in a room surrounded by flames and torment. Those are the constants. What I found most impressive was the range of musical developments which result in what Quazarre calls the Heavy Metal of Death. “Melas Oneiros” is very visual and not just because of the videos which come with it. Ephialtes’s black metal world engenders nightmares but also engulfs us in flames. Before this, the intro “Ad Padres” steps out and has the feel of a military unit marching into battle. The war starts with “To The Victims of Sirens”. This fast-paced romp has an air of melo-death about it, but any thought of jollity can be erased as the instrumentalists power their way relentlessly towards us, Quazarre growls harshly, inserts a trademark clean vocal appeal and a choir adds lofty mystery. As a song, it rocks and fires burn. Just in case we were tempted to write this off as harsh blackened metal, “In Her Embrace Again” starts with that theatrical clean vocal before the song plunges into dark territory, maintaining a level of pomp to go with the harshness. The song twists and turns, and while that element of black metal theatre remains, the drums and guitars maintain the dignity and the force. Avant-garde? Maybe, but what counts is the imperious majesty of this complex, dark fare. “In Her Embrace Again” needed further attention, I decided. This is a compliment about its depth, a quality which applies to the album and not just this song.
From quiet beginnings we enter a war zone. The drums hammer “The Void” forward. The level of turbulence cranks up. The guitar sounds like a siren. “The Void” is like the expression of a story, providing a controlled attack, moments of reflection, pomp, and a call to arms. The structure is blackened death in style, but unusual in other respects, particularly Quazarre’s clean choruses, which oddly made me think of Soilwork’s Strid in the way they are managed. But here’s there’s more majesty, and the lyrics suggest there is a personal appeal to higher places from the eponymous void. A real delight is the tightness of the instrumental work which exudes authority. Pride and defiance then enter “Children of Arachne”. Hard-hitting, forward-driving and melodic, the song pumps out metal fumes, but not without an outstanding guitar-led midsection which reflects despair in this other world. The riff keeps us enthralled, and once again Ephialtes pull off a strong song. Strength is a by word for this album, its message and in particular its crunching instrumental work.
“This is the tragic story of the dream of creating a man, the dream that ultimately made us all disgraced”, reads one of the lines of “Homo Deus”. It is a story of destruction, and Ephialtes match the story with more explosive melodic black metal music. Once again it is scintillating. The song ends strangely, no doubt for effect, with a distant sampled line “Take a look at what we did!” after a reflective clean section from Quazarre on those mistakes that were made in creating man. The dark and heavy music is very much in line with the nightmare which is being out before us, however I would say that on a listening level, I preferred to listen to the music than the words. It’s quite word-heavy. Maybe it’s me but in general I struggle to absorb lyrical themes at the same time as appreciating the finer points of the music. Themes are the pretext and need separate attention. But there’s no doubt that the two align, and are presented powerfully, in the case of the vocals thanks to Quazarre’s range and the distant haunting choir, which appears from time to time. Now to “The Blood of the Gods”. Again the riff line is compelling as the drums provide power and Quazarre puts it all out there on vocals. It’s harsh but epic in its dark representations. The message is in the final song “Pulvis et Umra Sumus”: “the truth is that we are nothing but dust and shadow”, which coincidentally is the translation of its Latin. To reflect where we are, the song is slower and more tragic while also being powerful and heavy. Quazarre’s vocal gymnastics are impressive in themselves but if the intention was to be climactic, I felt it missed its target as the song was structurally laboured. It’s a pity because this album had so many good ideas that it threatened to be a ripsnorter.
And here in my opinion is the problem. There are too many ideas. Thematically and musically this is a strong album but there were times when every conceivable creative idea was being thrown in to enhance the soundscape. This is good but it can cause an imbalance. In particular this was true of the vocals which were impressive but at times I felt that to an extent the vocal range got in the way into the mix, particularly as the album went on. For next time as I see it Ephialtes need to identify and declutter any potentially messy arrangements. On the other hand this is an absorbing album and the instrumental structures in parts are breathtaking, conjuring up death without alternative while pumping out venom in a listener-friendly way. I would single out “To The Victims of Sirens” in this regard and as a whole would commend “Melas Oneiros” for its unremittingly dark, fiery and nightmarish atmosphere.
(8/10 Andrew Doherty)
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