May 062025
 


cover artwork by Dave Melvin

(written by Islander)

Here we have a lineup that looks mighty impressive on paper and screens. To quote from Transcending Obscurity Records:

Technical death metal band Eschaton return after a gap of six years with a reinvigorated, star-studded line-up that undoubtedly elevates their sound to hitherto unexplored heights. They have none other than Christian Münzner formerly of Obscura and Necrophagist accompanying the band founder Josh Berry on guitars. For the vocals, they have enlisted the services of Mac Smith of Apogean and Abyssalis, and for the bass, they have brought on Scott Bradly from Inanimate Existence, while Darren Cesca of Pillory and formerly in Deeds of Flesh and Arsis continues to hold down the fort on drums.

Yes indeed, very impressive. That description might remind people (of a certain age) of a line from the movie The Dirty Dozen, in which Donald Sutherland’s pretend-general reviews ranks of well-dressed troops and comments to their commanding officer, “Very pretty, Colonel, very pretty, but can they fight?” We shall see…. Continue reading »

Mar 042012
 

(groverXIII drops manna from Hel into your auditory canals.  No charge.  Lots of song streams at the end of this bad boy, too.)

Howdy, folks. I know everyone loves good free music, so I’m just going to jump right into the bands here. Fuck yeah.

ESCHATONISOLATED INTELLIGENCE

Eschaton have been mentioned ’round these parts before (here and here), but I first discovered them back when they emailed me about their initial EP release An Instrument Of Darkness a while back when TNOTB was still up and running, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Isolated Intelligence is their first full album (at least, I think it qualifies as a full album… it’s only five tracks, but it is over 45 minutes), and it’s as fascinating a listen as one might expect from these guys.

Stylistically, the album is Eschaton’s usual take on black/death metal, which is to say that it is anything but usual. There is a lot of experimentation going on here, with sprawling post-metal soundscapes rubbing elbows with clean female vocals and discordant guitars, all contained with the basic framework of black metal. Get it on the Bandcamps, honky.
Continue reading »

Feb 052012
 

(Almost exactly one year after we first wrote about Eschaton HERE, BadWolf reports today on the projected release of their next album and a brand new Eschaton single.)

Eschaton have been on my personal radar for some time, first because they operate completely independently and second because they make some killer tunes. These four (unnamed) Austrian heathens play a very modern style of blackened death metal with melodic death metal influences. I know, it sounds ho-hum. Fear not! Their interpretation of the sound recalls Behemoth, and Andy Synn’s 2010 band of the year, Dark Fortress.

Unfortunately, Eschaton’s record is quite sparse. They released an album called Godmode in 2004, and then a two-song single called An Instrument of Darkness in 2010. I’ve been waiting for a second album ever since.

That wait is over. Eschaton’s second album, Isolated Intelligence, will be released on March 3rd. In anticipation, the band released a single, “Current Void”, this morning. Oh boy. Continue reading »

Feb 062011
 

Well, I thought I’d be able to get up another MISCELLANY post during the past week to help myself catch up, but that obviously didn’t happen. (Yesterday’s MISCELLANY post was a hybrid, since I already knew two of the bands, so that didn’t really count.) At least this time I didn’t let two or three weeks go by before readying another installment.

This time I visited four more bands whose music I’d never heard, and it turned out to be an unusually diverse listening experience — and in one case pretty far outside the usual bedlam of the NCS asylum. Per the usual MISCELLANY rules, I randomly picked these bands off our running list of music to check out and tried to limit myself to one song per band (and failed). After the jump you’ll get the chance to hear the music for yourselves if the write-ups get you interested enough.

Today’s picks are Shroud Eater (U.S.), Eschaton (Austria), and The Omega Experiment (U.S.) — and in a late addition, The Villain Avian Symphony (Canada). If nothing else, these bands have a knack for picking good names, don’t you think? And, as a bonus, it turns out that almost all the music is free.

(Yes, this is a lengthy installment, but for fuck’s sake, it’s Sunday. What else have you got to do? Oh wait — it’s Super Bowl Sunday. Well, fuck me, maybe people outside the U.S. will wade through this . . .) Continue reading »