Style: avant-garde/post-metal/experimental (mixed vocals, mostly harsh)
Review by: Chris
Country: UK
Release date: May 21, 2021
Strap in for some truly obtuse, dense, and maddeningly dark avant stylings courtesy of the debut album from anonymous outfit Epiphanic Truth. You’ve seen the name in the title, and I’m not going to type all of that again so from now on I’m referring to this release as Dark Triad. The name is apt; Dark Triad is in the bands own admission a musical Triptych (noun: a set of three associated artistic, literary, or musical works intended to be appreciated together.) analyzing in order the dark triad of personality disorders – psychopathy, narcissism and machiavellianism. Admittedly I started listening to this album only seeing it was 3 tracks but not paying attention to the length. A full work commute on the train later it was still going, but I wasn’t complaining. This is a massive album despite what the track length may indicate to you, and it is definitely tough to digest in one or even a few listens.
Dark Triads opens with a dark ambient swell before laying into the listener with an almost thrashy running riff met with the first hint of vocal stylings to come; seconds later the song descends instead to a blasting frenzy with a more frantic voice styling. Especially in this first song “The Truth of the Beast”, if you did a normal song sampling of this epic you’d be surprised by the multitude of places it seems to go, but in the moment it all makes sense, employing some almost post-metal styles of riff building, mutation, and revisiting. The song ends with a minutes long devolution into an electronic (almost EDM at times) deconstruction of previous moods and motifs.
“An Inescapable Verdict” follows next, probably being the most post-metal repetition relying of the three songs. The main riff at the beginning consistently pokes its head back in. The vocals in the beginning play underneath with an effected devilish voice, the music fades back after into a tense and moody bass lead swirling groove. Eventually the mood breaks back into that first riff, the vocals changing their inflection into a frenzied wail this time. Again the song descends to a moody bass groove, but instead we are treated this time with it longer, jazzier, and more melody focused on the guitars as it is played out. Again the main riff returns, and again the vocals beneath apply a different flair to it. It is apt to find this song described as about narcissism with its incessant love for the main riff, each time indulging itself more in basking in the heaviness.
Describing “Our Vile Roots Flourish Beyond Light” is nigh impossible; it is a 22 minute epic which treads so much sonic ground. This song definitely features the most melodic vocal choices on the record, midway through choosing to sit on a very pretty more layered section that the record has accustomed you to by that point. It’s a perfect relief ground to recover from the previous minutes of dark deluge the listener has gone through, though the record makes sure to end with one last elongated build to the blasting end.
Dark Triads is a fantastically textured and structured album with much to offer. I feel like by the time some months have rolled on that my rating will only rise; as I mentioned this album is tough to digest without a lot of listens. The bottom line is though, if you like the complex and hard to immediately digest style of avant and post styled albums, don’t miss this one; it’s for you.
Recommended tracks: An Inescapable Verdict
Recommended for fans of: Enslaved, Oranssi Pazuzu, maudlin of the Well
Final verdict: 8/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Twitter | Metal-Archives page
Label: Church Road Records – Bandcamp | Website | Facebook
Epiphanic Truth is:
Unknown, Anonymous band
0 Comments