The animation in the video you’re about to see creates images of disgustingly gruesome horror, but you would likely get visions of horror simply from listening to the song, because foul supernatural sensations ooze, stalk, and spasm in the music. The song is also a certifiable neck-ruiner.
The name of that song is “Metamorphosis“, and it’s the title track from the upcoming second album by the Dutch death metal band Ecocide, set for release by Memento Mori on October 23rd — more than a decade after the first one, with nothing but a few singles scattered across that long gap.
This one song, standing alone, proves how lucky we are that Ecocide are making their album-length return.
In their earliest days Ecocide played thrash, but that first album in 2013 showed them morphing into an old school death metal band, “taking the Floridian brand of Death, Obituary, and Massacre, adding some Swedish inspiration in the vein of Entombed, Grave, and Unleashed, pouring some Bolt Thrower heaviness, some Pestilence greatness, and throwing in an additional touch of thrash metal àla Slayer” (in Memento Mori’s words).
The new record, if anything, pushes further into that old school death metal territory, and does so with sure-handed mastery, as the song “Metamorphosis” abundantly demonstrates.
Many aspects of this highly infectious song stand out. One of them is certainly the raw, howling and growling voice of Sten Govers, which channels vicious madness (and also kindles memories of the great Martin van Drunen).
Another is the visceral power of the riffs — and the song is packed with them. Some induce a feeling of disease and queasiness, some sound like swarms of insects feverishly feeding on rotting flesh, some of them pulse like the ecstasy of demons or blare like morbid fanfares for the utterly miserable.
There’s also a wailing and fret-melting guitar solo that itself sounds like the agony of the lost and the exhilaration of the insane.
The song draws further strength from a formidable rhythm section — a hard-slugging bass and a drummer who shifts gears and rhythms in ways that perfectly suit what the guitarists are doing, while also dolling out doses of double-kick thunder and maniacal fills.
And, as mentioned earlier, all the instrumentalists also join forces to inflict grooves tailor-made for headbanging.
The video is also excellent. In addition to the nasty animation (credit to Ash Hound Productions for the grisly puppet scenes), it gives us a chance to see Ecocide in action within an abandoned industrial facility. They throw themselves into the performance with just as much ferocious energy as if they had a packed house of moshers, headbangers, and stage-divers crowding them on stage. Credit for the high-energy cinematography goes to Yavuz Selim Isler.
A lot of you will immediately recognize the style of the striking cover art for the album, but for those who don’t, it’s the work of Costin Chioreanu, and it perfectly suits the music within.
ECOCIDE is:
Sten Govers: guitar and vocals
Dennis Bikker: guitar
Rick Stikkelorum: bass
Bas Gijzen: drums
For more info about the new album, check the links below. And also lend your eyes and ears to the lyric video for “On the Shores of Madness“, another fantastic track from Metamorphosis that debuted previously.
MORE INFO:
http://memento-mori.es
https://www.facebook.com/memento.mori.label
https://ecocide-osdm.bandcamp.com/album/metamorphosis
ECOCIDE SOCIALS:
https://hyperfollow.com/ecocideband