Eclectika
Lure Of Ephemeral Beauty ()
Wydane przez Asylum Ruins RecordsRok wydania Kraj FranceNapisał Wouter3
So, this band dub themself experimental/post-black metal and seeing how this is their third record, is it that unreasonable to expect something, you know, experimental? Sure, it starts off with a cinematic intro piece worthy of Uncharted or Ridley Scott’s fantastic Gladiator movie but, by Odin, are these underachievers. If the title track is any indication this is rather run of the mill, meddling gothic metal with the occasional black metal rasp. Yeah, this is another of those bands that ape Dutch outfit Epica, including the name, to an unreal degree – yet seem to miss the technical chops, or the necessary songwriting skills to back up those claims. There are plenty of this type bands that are all sorts of awful: Hydria, Katra, Krypteria, Lunatica, Magica, Operatika, Pythia, Xandria – you get the gist. This is not even particularly good gothic metal, mind you. No. This is the kind of gothic metal that your local scene has at least one band of. You know the type, they can play one riff/rhythm and have no scope or depth beyond the cleavage of their singer. The dynamics are simply non-existent, and the rhythm stays the same through out the record. I kid you not, my friends of misery. Eclectika just chug-chug-chug like it’s 1994, and when in doubt: they chug some more, just to be sure. Yeah, there are acoustics and the violin also appears, but to what end? The girl’s singing is tolerable and, although she’s no Liv Kristine or Julie Kiss, at least she’s trying to make the best of what she’s given to work with. Which isn’t a whole lot. Is this labeled black metal because of the vocals and the toothless riffing? You can’t seriously be that delusional. I wish I was making this all up, but I’m not. I’ll give them credit for the great artwork and overall presentation, but that’s all compliments I can give in good consciousness. Granted the orchestral and spacey parts are actually well done, but when being part of a package this horrible – how much of compliment can that really be? There are times when I think that recording equipment should be expensive again. This is a time like that. I wish I had something clever to conclude this review, but by Odin, this record has even sucked the creativity out of me.
www.asylumruins.fr
