ECTOVOID - Fractured in the Timeless Abyss (HELLTHRASHER - CD 2012)
Well, well, I must admit that I’m more and more
impressed by the work, which Hellthrasher Productions does. Only a year ago
this Polish label has been slowly starting, releasing few better or worse CDs,
but I’ve been watching their activity ever since then and nowadays I must say
that they’re doing just awesome job! In many ways I think I can compare them to
Agonia Records as both labels release a good quantity of albums, but always
keep the certain quality to them, which is something not so common and usual in
most of the especially bigger labels. The only difference between Hellthrasher
and Agonia is that Agonia releases the albums of already well known and
established bands, while Hellthrasher focused on the beginners, bands which
only just been starting their underground metal crusade. And that’s of course
way more difficult, to find bands, which are good enough that it’s worth
investing your time and money into them and promote their album.
Ectovoid is an example for such band, which has
been discovered by Hellthrasher in the depths of the underground. This Alabama,
USA, based band has just been formed back in 2010 and released only one demo,
“Breathing Blackness” in 2011 after which they must have been noticed by
Hellthrasher, who immediately offered them a contract. Well, I don’t know that
demo yet (I’m waiting for it now, as the band was so kind that they’ve sent me
a copy of it!), but I can assure you that what I hear on the album is something
way more impressive that I ever expected it to be. Yeah, let’s put all my cards
with aces on the table – “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss” is just an amazing
album and I wouldn’t waste my time writing this, if it wasn’t the truth. Damn,
I think that from all the releases, which Hellthrasher has putted out so far
this CD belongs to my favourites, at least together with Intestinal’s “The
Rottening”, Escarnium’s “Rex Vomitorium” and Decaying’s “Encirclement”. But
even among all those albums, “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss” could be my
favourite piece!
So, what does Ectovoid serve us on this slab of
plastic? Well, they’re from USA, so there’s only one true and correct answer –
brutal death metal! Yeah, but that doesn’t say much, so if I add such monikers
as Immolation, Incantation plus Morbid Angel, Autopsy and maybe a bit of the
old Finnish death metal bands like Demigod, Convulse and Purtenance, then I
hope your imagination of the cadaverous work of Ectovoid will be closer to the
truth. “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss” is 666% old styled piece of classic
death metal in the vein of the mentioned bands, and despite the fact that this
isn’t anything new, I still hail this band for this album as the quality of
their material is just supreme and better than most of other old school bands
(and sometimes even better than the originals!). The main strength of
Ectovoid’s music lays within the atmosphere, which these three guys have
created with their music and within the riffs, which are just killer and are
composed into ultimately brilliant songs. This music is very thick, dense with
dark, sinister type of melodies and riffs, with great arrangements, which
balance between the ghastly doomy parts and mid paced, brutal death metal. Every
song on “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss” brings the slaughter and instant genocide,
riffs are crushing like the 10 tons heavy wall of sound, the drums are a real
death beats and the vocals are some of the most ghoulish and guttural you can
imagine. And while listening to this album I just cannot decide which my
favourite parts of it are as basically everything on it is top notch and I do
not hesitate saying there’s nothing missing and everything is just as it should
be. Of course such tracks as “Dark Clouds of Consciousness” with its brilliant,
memorable main riff (very much influenced by the cult of Immolation), “Splintered
Phantasm”, “Locked in Dismal Gaze” with its dismal, doomy opening theme or “Murmurs
From Beyond” are the pieces, which I found as most tremendous and impressive, but that doesn’t
mean the rest of the songs are less killer.
The other thins I must mention about “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss” are:
the very good production, in which I really like the guitar tone a lot as well
as how the vocals are performed and mixed into everything and also the killer
front artwork, which looks just superb and quite original at the same time (I
also really like Ectovoid’s logo!). And so, when all the elements of the music plus its package are so
high rated by me I cannot imagine not buying the vinyl version of “Fractured in the Timeless Abyss”,
which I hope Blood Harvest will release soon. And if you’re not into black wax,
then you must get the CD from Hellthrasher as this album is an absolutely must
have thing for you, if you call yourself a death metal maniac. With all
respect, if there wasn’t Disma’s “Towards the Megalith” LP and also albums from
Horrendous and Father Befouled, then I would call Ectovoid the biggest US
sensation since the formation of late80’s and early 90’s legends and Nile few
years later.
Standout tracks: “Dark Clouds of Consciousness”,
“Splintered Phantasm”, “Locked in Dismal Gaze”, “Murmurs From Beyond”
Final rate: 90/100
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