Ectovoid – Inner Death

Band: Ectovoid
Title: Inner Death
Label: Blood Harvest Records
Release date: 18 January 2019
Country: USA
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

Sometimes big things come in small packages, as ECTOVOID return from the Alabama underground with their short but morbidly sweet EP entitled “Inner Death”. Coming in at exactly twelve minutes in length, the band successfully expands on the sounds of their previous albums while also exploring some slightly new territory along the way. I’m always shocked when my fellow metalheads haven’t heard of this band. With two fantastic full-length releases from 2012 and 2015 and a split album before this release, ECTOVOID is apparently one of death metal’s best-kept secrets. Their slow and classically refined sound will no doubt be a boon for traditional death metal fans, with the bands swarming grim verses and dark atmospheres keen to pull new fans into the void.

A sinister guitar squeal starts everything off with ‘Internal Inversion’, a fast and heavy serving of traditional ghoulish death metal. This song supplies pure ECTOVOID style from previous albums with the song delivering two and half minutes of killer guitars and drumming, all highlighted by the songs wicked solo work. ‘Archaic Memories Unearthed’ starts off on a similar note with another blistering solo and some ridiculously heavy riffage to follow it up. Things slow down a few times throughout the song, with the band turning down the tempo and cranking out some fantastic headbanging moments. ‘Isolation in Mind Continuum’ is a full out charge with slamming drums and a chunky guitar tone that gives the song a thick and deep blackened atmosphere at times. This is definitely my favorite song on the EP with the relentless swarms of riffs suddenly halted on a cliffhanger by an eerie overtone of pained screaming and an unsettling course of entropy with the screams and EP fading to a close.

With several years gone by without a full-length ECTOVOID album, I am hoping that this EP is a taste of things come. Most of the bands’ releases so far have been under the flag of Hellthrasher Productions but this one is the first partnership with powerhouse Blood Harvest. Aligning with an underground death metal label that is also home to gems like Taphos and Maligner should give the band some much-needed momentum. I thoroughly enjoyed this entire EP and was left satisfied even with the short length leaving me ready and waiting for more. But I guess that’s probably the point with the EP ending on a cliff and big things definitely looming on the ECTOVOID horizon. Take a trip into the void with “Inner Death” and be sure to check out their other releases as well if you haven’t done so already. 8.5/10 Metal Yeti

 

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8.5/10 To Greatness and Glory!
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