Ephel Duath Pain Necessary to Know
Elitist Records / Earache Records MOSH918 October 31st, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Downright amazing is the best description for Pain Necessary to Know, at least thats what I think. Anyhow, the ever-changing Ephel Duath have returned with their first entry since The Painters Palette blew everyone away in 2003, and though the transformations can be deemed minimal, theyre still apparent. But, believe you me that the quality has skyrocketed when compared/contrasted to the bands previous engagements.
While The Painters Palette left me intrigued and taken with a couple of the songs, Pain Necessary to Know sucked the breath right out of my lungs. The jazziness is still hanging out on this record, but has diminished in frequency along with the clean vocals. The properties that have increased, though, multiply Ephel Duaths worth twofold. For instance, the synthesizers are brilliantly used: listen to the bells in New Disorder and Crystalline Whirl, and then tell me you didnt achieve orgasm. Yeah, theyre that good. Also, Piovesan (drums) sounds less intent on providing a jazz backdrop than he was on the groups most recent past effort, in The Painters Palette. The stop/start technique is utilized a whole lot this time around, which means that those irked by the constant breakage of continuity may dislike this heavily. At any rate, copious instrumental passages (parts of Vector, Third Movement for example) are, like, totally awesome! Clocking in at forty minutes total, Ephel Duath gauged the average listeners attention span perfectly with this disc.
Mainly, it seems as if the guys were able to shed the mishmash of jazz and metal that plagued their immediate predecessor in favor of welding the two together convincingly. This isnt so much a jazz metal recording as it is a hefty, avant-garde exemplification. While Ephel Duath dont exactly eschew traditional elements in favor of spastic, nonsensical characteristics, Pain Necessary to Know is a necessary listen. Hell its a must-buy, just because its one of the best original works of this year. As an aside, even though they dont sound like one another at all, I simply have to recommend Frantic Bleeps The Sense Apparatus to folks searching for other artists in tune with spot-on experimentation.
9/10
Official Ephel Duath Website
Official Elitist Records Forum
Official Elitist Records Website
Official Earache Records Forum
Official Earache Records Website
Elitist Records / Earache Records MOSH918 October 31st, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Downright amazing is the best description for Pain Necessary to Know, at least thats what I think. Anyhow, the ever-changing Ephel Duath have returned with their first entry since The Painters Palette blew everyone away in 2003, and though the transformations can be deemed minimal, theyre still apparent. But, believe you me that the quality has skyrocketed when compared/contrasted to the bands previous engagements.
While The Painters Palette left me intrigued and taken with a couple of the songs, Pain Necessary to Know sucked the breath right out of my lungs. The jazziness is still hanging out on this record, but has diminished in frequency along with the clean vocals. The properties that have increased, though, multiply Ephel Duaths worth twofold. For instance, the synthesizers are brilliantly used: listen to the bells in New Disorder and Crystalline Whirl, and then tell me you didnt achieve orgasm. Yeah, theyre that good. Also, Piovesan (drums) sounds less intent on providing a jazz backdrop than he was on the groups most recent past effort, in The Painters Palette. The stop/start technique is utilized a whole lot this time around, which means that those irked by the constant breakage of continuity may dislike this heavily. At any rate, copious instrumental passages (parts of Vector, Third Movement for example) are, like, totally awesome! Clocking in at forty minutes total, Ephel Duath gauged the average listeners attention span perfectly with this disc.
Mainly, it seems as if the guys were able to shed the mishmash of jazz and metal that plagued their immediate predecessor in favor of welding the two together convincingly. This isnt so much a jazz metal recording as it is a hefty, avant-garde exemplification. While Ephel Duath dont exactly eschew traditional elements in favor of spastic, nonsensical characteristics, Pain Necessary to Know is a necessary listen. Hell its a must-buy, just because its one of the best original works of this year. As an aside, even though they dont sound like one another at all, I simply have to recommend Frantic Bleeps The Sense Apparatus to folks searching for other artists in tune with spot-on experimentation.
9/10
Official Ephel Duath Website
Official Elitist Records Forum
Official Elitist Records Website
Official Earache Records Forum
Official Earache Records Website
