Ecliptic from the USA have been described as a “thinking man’s Death Metal act”. Well, judging by “As of Yet Unknown”, certainly a lot goes into it. In fact there’s a bit of everything. It’s constantly heavy, growls are at the fore but there’s also a strong sense of rhythm and melody.
Having said all this, to start with the vibe leans towards melodic Black Metal, made more obvious by the growling style of the vocalist. “Cause of Progress” is technically orientated and features a number of fluid rhythms operating at different levels. “Empyrical Sphere” is more pure in its Blackness, later toning down into “whispering in the woods” mode before heading into controlled chaos. We’re to get used to the quiet talking sections as the album progresses. It’s not the only thing we are to get used to. Throughout the album, the accent is on repetitive heaviness. “Limitations” has a thumping rhythm and blastbeating drums to boot but apart from that we don’t seem to be going anywhere. Equally, “Five Ways” has a flowing form of heaviness. I wasn’t sure if the growls go with this style. The track slows down for a section of soft classic guitar with what sounds like water in the background, and another spoken section, before bursting into life again and ending with an uplifting, dark melody. The word “Progressive” could certainly be used to describe this. “Sleep of Reason” has a fast and fluid melody. For the first time it really comes out of the starting blocks but this is track 6. Even then it’s repetitive. “Sleep of Reason” reminded me in its style of Death Metallers Into Eternity but Ecliptic don’t seem to be able to raise the same level of excitement as their Canadian counterparts. Delicate acoustics alternate with the insistent heaviness on “Emergence”. The problem here is that whereas, say, October Falls provide a sense of occasion and visions of forests, there’s no obvious context. Musically it’s fine and sure it’s dark but it’s like a series of musical movements without meaning. Formulaic is the way I’d describe it. “Once Becoming” confirms this view again. It’s fast, heavy, repetitive and there’s a spoken section. The title track ends the album. Haven’t I heard this before? Rhythm remains king. The drums are fast. It’s heavy and melodic. There is a powerful slower section, it’s well played and an improvement on the spoken parts we heard earlier, but the insistent rhythm rumbles on and there’s an element of sameness about this.
Maybe Ecliptic were thinking too much when they made “As of Yet Unknown”. I appreciated the quality of the musicianship but odd moments apart, didn’t find there was enough to grab me or make me want to get what it was all about.
http://www.myspace.com/ecliptic
