Released earlier this year through Aesthetic Death, "Entering Darkness" is the absolutely superb debut full-length from French act Eibon, and pretty much everything that I said about the band's self-titled EP still stands. Expect six tracks that add up to an hour's worth of crushing, pulsing doom—loaded with everything from your standard doses of slow, pounding power chords and oppressively thick basslines to droning melodies; sparse clean passages; and forceful vocal growls/snarls that really carry some great texture (to the point where they actually lend a bit of a blackened vibe to the compositions from time to time). All of this is occasionally accented by well-placed samples and efficiently blended ambient noise textures, not to mention some shockingly hard-hitting and emotional moments where surging melodies and dissonant chord phrasings come together to create some of the finest atmospheric doom I've encountered in quite some time (check out 14+ minute epic "Substance", especially). Once more the recording is great, too. Devastatingly heavy, super dense, but still clear enough to let you get a grip on all of the subtle intricacies that are scattered around the core. There are some truly mind-blowing moments herein, and I really prefer to let the music do the talking these days, so I hope this excerpt properly conveys a good bit of what this band has to offer...
Comments
[...] Andrew Filed under: 'Entering Darkness' album [...]
11.10.2010 | By ‘Entering Darkness’ reviewed @Aversion
I’m digging what I hear from the excerpt. Imust have missed your review of the demo.
11.10.2010 | By John Hasson
Absolutely fantastic album, also cannot wait for the HKY split.
11.11.2010 | By Jack
Great band. Good to see some French bands getting noticed these days. The French underground is loaded with talented bands of all metal and hardcore sub-genres. Unfortunately many think that the European music scene begins and ends with Scandinavia only.
11.15.2010 | By Wolfhammer
This just came out in cassette on a canadian label called Media Tree. The tape has the EP too!
11.15.2010 | By miike
Pretty good, I’d like to check out more. Sounds kinda like a bridge between the 90’s English melodic death/doom like Anathema and My Dying Bride with newer shit like Thou and Samothrace. I wish the reording was rawer but that’s just me, probably.
11.18.2010 | By justin
Justinbean?
11.20.2010 | By Jack
One of my albums of the year…easily. Nice write up!
11.21.2010 | By Wooderson
Great album, you can almost touch the atmosphere of it. Don’t know why I didn’t post comment when you put the review up.
2.5.2011 | By Carlos