Ecnephias - Ways Of Descention

Italy's Ecnephias formed in 1996, but took ten years to find their musical niche before they released their first album. Combining death metal, doom metal, and symphonic music, they crafted a dark, eerie soundscape for themselves with their debut, Dominium Noctis. Drawing on influences such as My Dying Bride, Virgin Black, and Therion, the band delve further into the gothic doom metal world when they dreamt up their second album, Ways Of Descention. It's spooky and eerie with a beautiful aggression not seen often in doom metal.

"Secrets Of A Black Preist" starts out with some choir vocals and then wavers into the heavier, slow distortion of doom metal. Keyboards drone in the background over ugly growls and spoken word passages; they aren't as pronounced as some doom metal bands but instead have a distorted rasp to them. However, the choir vocals really add depth and grandeur when they are layered over the harsher ones. "Twisted Personality" is more chaotic with the guitars and drums and the lack of choir and keyboards. The cleaner vocals aren't as distorted but still sound faded, as if they're being sung underwater. "Beyond Suspicion" starts outs with a melodic guitar passage before eurpting into distorted chords. It is a pretty standard doom metal track, but some more dynamics near the end when things quiet down for a piano passage and more pronounced cleaner vocals.

"Empty Cold Veins" is a more symphonic gothic metal influenced track because it features more piano, a less distorted use of the guitars, and long, drawn out vocal passages that border a good mix of funeral/ symphonic doom. "A Strange Painting" unfortunately starts to make the album lose originality as it sounds like a standard doom/ melodic death metal album with an even tempo on the guitars, grunted vocals in short barks, and a lack of the piano and choir vocals that made the music so dynamic from the beginning. Of course, the album is instantly redeemed from the short, eeire instrumental "Il Martirio di San Lucifero" which sounds like a dark, gothic piece pulled straight from a haunted house. "Marilene's Lustful Whims" adds more keyboard and keeps an energetic pace on the chords while still shrouding everything in distortion. At one point things quiet down and the same eerie clinks can be heard from the previous track. The vocals range from the usual grunt to a heavy, breathing rasp that really suits the atmosphere of the music well; a shame the vocalist doesn't do that more often.

"Eternally Bound" adds more clean vocals and a new style with the guitars. Instead of the usual standard chord crunching, one guitar sings above the rest and makes a profound statement of melody. The keyboards really get their eerie melodies going when they can be heard in the background, adding a heavy dose of horror-metal to the music. The album closes on the instrumental "Il Nostro Patto." Mostly composed of only piano, the vocals again add a new style with soft whispers before inviting the choral vocals back in. It's a very bombastic way to end the album, but also unfortunate that moments like these were not used throughout the rest of the album.

All the pieces are there to make Ways Of Descention a great doom/ gothic metal album. Ecnephias know how to make a diverse album with the right musical score to match their lyrical themes of witchcraft, horror, and paganism. However, it would have been better if they had taken more from the instrumental tracks and added them to the metal tracks to make an even lusher soundscape. Don't worry, though. Anyone who likes doom metal in the likes of Paradise Lost, Darkseed, or Catamenia will find this a treat. And fans of the band already will appreciate the vast improvement from the debut album.

  1. Secrets Of A Black Priest
  2. Twist Of Personality
  3. Beyond Suspicion
  4. Empty Cold Veins
  5. A Strange Painting
  6. Il Martirio di San Lucifero
  7. Marilene's Lustful Whims
  8. Eternally Bound
  9. Il Nostro Patto

Code 666 Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Sep 11, 2010

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