Conceptual Horizon
It’s not unusual, that the origin of a band is emphasised, especially when they originate in a country, that is not known for metal. How exciting it must be, that there are bands from the orient, asia or south america which are playing metal, too. Except some special cases like Melechesh you can’t even hear, from which country they come. Ekove Efrits is one of those bands, where you might guess their home country by taking a close look on their name, but no hint in the music, on which we will focus the review.
Don’t hesitate to look up, from which country Ekove Efrits are from, if it’s really of interesst for you, but IMHO it doesn’t matter at all. It’s way more interessting, that the band has allready released seven outputs before Conceptual Horizon, thereof two full-length records, some demo cd’s, one split and one compilation. The genre which the Count de Efrits is playing can’t really be defined, as many different influences are merged together. His music is streaked with ambient parts, some occasional black metal eruptions (in terms of orchestration, as well as vocalisation), trip-hop and some minor post-something moments.
Although you can’t define the genre Conceptual Horizon would fit in, you can define the major influences which shape the music: The ambient parts are creating a depressive/melancholic trip-hop (as it’s simply to calm for black metal) atmosphere held in mid-tempo regions. The main style of vocalisation is calm and mostly whispered instead of really sung, but there are long passages without vocals as well. The instruments of the Counts choice to create this atmospheric layer are the keys/synthesizer, occasionally strings and everything is accentuated by the guitars, which seldomly play a bigger role.
It would be an erroneous belief, that the tracks might be too similiar and boring, if they all have the same fundament in form of melancholic atmosphere. The Count really knows how to compose songs and so there is enough variation as some songs are using samples (Faceless Moments), others cite classical music (Hills Of Ashes) and the last category just features really experimental sounds like “gurgling” melodies (Floating Energies From Nature).
While the combination of these several elements was done really well and the variation on the record is guaranteed, there is nothing left to complain about, right? Sadly, that’s not the whole truth, as the songs are a bit overladen which can be annoying from time to time. Another flaw are the programmed drums, which don’t really sound bad, but there are moments in which they just don’t seem to fit in right. The last flaw might be the clean vocals, as they sound a bit shriek from time to time.
Concluion:
Conceptual Horizon is no record for balmy summer evenings, but the exactly right thing for rainy days in fall. The record is defined through the really thick atmosphere but the black metal passages are good as well and all in all you could be reminded of Blakagir. Sadly, there are some flaws on the record, for instance the shriek clean vocals, but Conceptual Horizon is nevertheless a good record.
Rating: 76/100
Date of release: July, the 29th 2011
Tracklist:
