Originally issued in 2009, this debut EP from South West England’s Melodic Death Metal band Engraved Disillusion represents the very early stages of their musical vision in 3 tracks. Although a mere taster, their debut album is coming in the spring.
So what of this further addition to the melodic death metal tagged pile? Well actually, this is rather good. Opening with some rather controlled riffing and guitarwork similar to that of established bands, this opening statement builds up to a vocal delivery as expected in this genre. When the tempo increases, things also look up. Using arrangements tried and tested before, the light a shade matches the expectations of a band entering this arena. The only gripe I have is with some of the arranging is the overutilization of the double kick drums towards the end of this opening track, it kind of masks the atmosphere that the band have successfully built up throughout the preceding musical conquest. Overall, this EP possesses soulful melodic solos, matched with the presence of speed and brutality; it is frugal to forget that this band can really produce songs of class with no fear for going right for the throat. ‘A Fallen Redemption’ takes you to, in my mind anyway; latter day Sentenced, but never forgetting the heavier roots from say their ‘Amok’ period. The final track, ‘From Sorrow to Serenity’ takes a heavier stance in the vocal delivery, but still encompasses all that feeling that has gone before and is yet to come. It is not long till you are reminded of this.
As debut EP’s go, this is actually a rather stunning representation of classy melodic death metal. The drum sounds a little thin, but then this can be worked on in the studio no doubt during the recording of their debut album due shortly. This is certainly a band to watch out for and these tracks are also available as a free download from the bands MySpace site.
http://www.myspace.com/engraveddisillusion
