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Canadian five piece Eclipser are creeping in to wreck your brain with their debut assault of warped, vaguely-progressive blackened death, dropping September 6th through Noise Salvation – the DIY label run by Canadian grinders Fuck The Facts. Our resident straight shooter George Van Doorn of Vahrzaw submits his ears to the assault and drops a few choice words.
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I recently reviewed another Canadian Blackened DM band whose music was quite good, but they don’t appear to have appreciated my sense of humour; I hung shit on Panzerfaust for displaying their buff physiques in their promo photos. So, did Eclipser have the good sense to keep their clothes on in their photo shoot? They sure did!
The album starts with ‘On Mournful Waves of Eternal Dusk’; terrible title, but a cracking song. The first thing that jumped out at me was that the two guitarists really know how to write separate guitar lines that complement each other. I was thinking “Fuck! That shouldn’t work”… but it does! Differing rhythms and notes that I thought wouldn’t work together but, oddly, do. It’s really quite cool. There’s dissonance here, but it’s in the riffs themselves (not in any ill-conceived harmony parts).
Eclipser create a nice sense of unease in several songs. But… I’m having a hard time describing what they do exactly. It’s chaotic, but it’s controlled. It’s layered. It’s semi-avant-garde Blackened DM. Whenever a band’s music is slightly odd, Deathspell Omega are mentioned. But comparing Deathspell Omega with Eclipser would be like comparing Panzerfaust‘s promo photos (naked apples) with Eclipser‘s promo photos (fully dressed oranges). So, I’m slightly stumped.
The vocals, drums, and bass are good, and the production is good too. Everything is audible. Perhaps the vocals are a touch too high in the mix, while the drums are a touch too low. My other very minor criticism is that I thought that, on a few occasions, a riff was over-played slightly.
All that said, this is a stellar debut.
Rating: 4.5 / 5
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Pathos releases September 6th on CD or digital via Noise Salvation. Pre-orders available now.
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Pre-order Eclipser‘s Pathos digitally or on CD from Bandcamp here.
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