Bulgarian groovy death metal. It’s not something that my music collection is exactly bursting at the seams with; but having heard good things about Eufobia’s debut album ‘Insemination’ I jumped at the chance to give this one the once over. This is in many respects a prequel to ‘Insemination’, as for the most part it is a re-release of their 2005 demo of the same name. The only change is the inclusion of an intro track which acts as an instrumental outro also. Still, if something is worth doing it’s worth doing properly, so…
Opening track ‘Violin’ is a bit of a strange one. It has an Eastern European feel to it certainly, but the Eufobia I had briefly heard clips of and heard about was nowhere to be found here in this technical folk piece with its whispered vocals. When ‘Maligna’ finally kicks in however, all becomes clear. Seeing as the majority of the band are credited with vocal duties, I have no idea who provides the majority of the throat action on here, but it’s certainly an interesting style. It’s a low guttural bark, delivered in a manner and volume that is quite understated, and that works brilliantly with the very technical musicianship. Syncopated rhythms mix with intelligent riffing whilst the excellent vocal work carries along in an almost stealthly manner. Initially I thought that the bass guitar was too loud in the mix, but I soon realised that this was completely intentional and over the course of the album the bass actually provides a great deal of the lead riffs, particularly on ‘Laid to Rest’ and ‘Mud’. This could so easily have been a terrible idea, but here it adds weight and sounds perfect.
There is a real maturity in the composition and songwriting that is an increasingly rare these days; even amongst bands who describe themselves as ‘technical’ (Eufobia make no such claim themselves, that is purely my opinion), and such inventiveness is really welcome. The guitars of Ivan Gemijev and Nikolay Bojakov steer clear of the conventional dual guitar attack and seem to concentrate far more on often simple riffing with technical flourishes. Blago Petrov is a very talented drummer indeed with a sense of rhythm comparable to that of Danny Carey; and Steff Abadjiev’s bass lead is simply stunning at times, lulling you into a false sense of security before bludgeoning you into submission, never more so than on the superb ‘Mud’, with one of the catchiest and grooviest hooks I’ve heard all year.
There’s no doubt about it, Eufobia are making all the right noises, and they are getting some good exposure too, sharing stages with the likes of Onslaught, Dark Tranquillity, Malevolent Creation and Negura Bunget. There is very little about ‘Cup of Mud’ which could be described as conventional, which is an excellent achievement as these guys manage to have a sound and style of their own which they manage to carry off seemingly effortlessly. An album that manages to be both outstandingly technical and yet simplistic at the same time, this has definitely been one of my finds of the year. Love it!
http://www.myspace.com/eufobiacarnage
Lee Kimber
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