Ectovoid was formed in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States as a trio in autumn of 2010 from the ashes of a couple of other projects. The band’s first demo, “Breathing Blackness”, was recorded in December of that year and self-released on CD-R in March of 2011. By winter of 2011, the band had finished writing the material for their first full-length album, “Fractured In the Timeless Abyss”. The album was recorded fully in analog in November and December of 2011 and is already out in cd through Hellthrasher Productions, a vinyl version is due out on Blood Harvest Records hopefully this summer.
Ectovoid plays a raw, atmospheric form of death metal that fuses the dismal morbidity of classic bands like Immolation and Autopsy with the sorrowful melodic urgency of European black metal. Lyrical themes are centered around afflictions of the mind and soul and the terrors that await mankind beyond the veils of death, space and time. Ectovoid’s sound pays homage to the respected bands of yore while remaining an innovative blend of influences and styles without the aid of any current retro trends. Now, i really enjoyed “Breathing Blackness”, it presented me a band that played this very obscure death metal with a very deep sound. And i immediately knew that the first length of this band had to be a killer album, and i wasn’t wrong.
“Fractured In the Timeless Abyss” is an outstanding album, a killer piece crafted by this new band that is taking first steps on the scene, and yet, they have already marked their territory. Ectovoid’s concepts and lyrics float around some very metaphorical and intangible themes, just look at the titles of the tracks: “Dark Clouds of
Consciousness”, “Chewing Through the Membranes of Time and Space”, “Splintered Phantasm”, “Emanating Spectral Vapor”, “Locked In Dismal Gaze”. Death metal hasn’t to be always around blood, guts and gore. And this is one factor that really takes this band to another level when it comes to death metal. Due to the fact that it was recorded fully in analog, the sound on “Fractured In the Timeless Abyss” is truly genuine to its roots, exhaling “old school” on every single note. The drum delivers a very “loose” sound that relates very well with the rest of the instruments, that crushing low tone guitar and the creepy bass, although his presence is not noted most of the time clearly out-shined by the rest of the instruments and voice, he gets to shine every now and then. The voice is superb, Chuck Bryant’s voice is one of those voices that, alone, can save an entire record, it resembles a lot to Immolation’s Ross Dolan, Bryant’s growls are deep as hell and enough to turn the most sunny day into pitch black. Basically, besides Immolation, Incantation, older Morbid Angel on influences on Ectovoid’s sound i can almost sense some european old school influences with acts like Rippikoulu, Altar or even Adramelech.
Tracks like “Transcend Into the Moonless Night”, “Chewing Through the Membranes of Time and Space”, “Splintered Phantasm” or the cavernous “Locked In Gaze Dismal” are filled with cutting and piercing riffs that will immediately suck you in into this dense, sinister, black hole where Ectovoid’s music balances between the dread, doom-ish sections, floating from mid paced to fast death metal. Unfortunately there’s one negative aspect that i point on this release, the fact the tracks sound pretty much the same, not in terms of musical construction, but maybe as a consequence of production. As i started to hear the album i barely noticed differences between the first three tracks. Nevertheless, “Fractured In the Timeless Abyss” is an awesome death metal release for the present year filled with tremendous tracks that will surely satisfy the hunger of every true old school death metal fan. This one here ladies and gentlemen, is death metal the way it is supposed to be done. “Fractured In the Timeless Abyss” is already available at the Hellthrasher Store here. Follow the band steps, shows, etc on their Facebook.
New Comments