Eciton

A Scent Of Veracity

Written by: AP on 06/09/2010 17:02:11

Eciton's sophomore album "A Scent of Veracity" went through at least two other scribes before it was unanimously decided that the music suited my interests best, and handed over to me without consulting me on whether or not this was actually the case. Well, after lengthy procrastination of this relentlessly brutal affair, the time has finally come to dig into it. Eciton is, of course, a Danish band, which comes as no surprise based on their sound. After pre-mixing by Wojtek and Slawek Wieslawscy in the famous Hertz studio to achieve as deep a tone as humanly possible - in the vein of Decapitated and Vader, who also had their production handled there - the disc was shipped off to Jacob Olsen in Denmark so as to put his finishing touches on it, and the band that comes out of this process and - by no means bad - production, is inevitably a band that sounds exactly like every other death metal band in Denmark, most notably Aphyxion.

In fact the only difference between Eciton and Aphyxion is that Eciton seem to have comparably more instrumental skill and are less keen to resort to breakdowns and even remotely catchy moments. From its disquieting first intro (yes, there are two), "A Scent of Veracity" comes at you with such sheerness that the music is initially difficult to comprehend. Jesper Bøeck's growls go deep, Thomas Berg's guitar tuning goes deep, and the bass section, courtesy of bassist Peter W. Frandsen and drummer Jesper Frost, has been given exceptional prominence in the mix. You might have guessed so already, but what this means is that "A Scent of Veracity" is an immensely heavy piece of music and, to any non-fan of death metal, very difficult to digest. This is not to say that the music holds no promise, as the fact alone that a Danish band has managed to make it to their second full-length outing indicates that the band has got the goods. These goods are, as already hinted, some truly impressive instrumentation, but unlike in more mainstream forms of metal, it does not manifest itself in blistering solos or breathtaking instrumental sections, but rather in the constant shredding and poly-rhythms that stand out from the mix with a little patience.

But my fellow staff members were wrong, judging music like this is not my regular ballpark. It is thus with extreme caution that I make the following observations: Eciton is obviously a talented band, this I cannot contest - but would it be wrong or offensive to say that stuff like this is far from original, and that even a death metal newbie such as myself could probably name a dozen other bands that play it better or in more innovative ways? On "A Scent of Veracity" it seems that everything else has been put aside in favor of murderous brutality, resulting in very few memorable moments and a sound that is almost certainly going to blend into the infinity of other bands in the market. I don't know, this is but my humble opinion.

6

Download: Neo Conservative Control, Lack of Interest, Exposed Devotion
For the fans of: 100 Knives Inside, Aphyxion, By The Patient
Listen: Myspace

Release date 26.04.2010
Mighty Music

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.