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EPHEMERAL
Ephemeral EP

Self-released (2022)
Rating: 7/10

Don’t confuse this new Floridian death metal act with a handful of other current acts with the same name. This EP is rather short at just over 13-minutes, but it delivers quite a hefty jab to the kidneys.

After a short introduction we get hammered by ‘Font Of Consumption’ that begins with a doomy whine for embarking on a gloomy trudge of steady, rattling percussion and a thick, clogged guitar sound. Propelled by that dense bass the track gradually quickens, though barely to a trot but it has a thickening old school feel laced with cryptic fumes. It then suddenly has a thrashier vibe and we’re off on another mid-tempo chug coated in standard yet effective vocal bellows. The pace does eventually quicken to a formulaic bludgeoning whereby the vocals become a touch more dehydrated.

This is simple death metal that embarks on an adventure without perils, and the same can also be said by the crushing waves of ‘Mordacity (Ultramarine)’ which is another dense, rumbling tumult that steadily unravels with simple riffage and percussion. There’s a charm about no frills death metal like this which takes me back to my youth when I’d send dollars to the United States for an obscure death metal cassette and just praying it would turn up. It’s got that straight-forward old school feel, juddering with that spinal bass line which holds it all together. The track also has a nice solo and some fantastic doomy chimes.

‘Blood Essence’ brings variations in pace with the expected faster segments, so in a sense it’s classic Floridian death metal – straight down the line but with extra dryness in the vocal.

If you like what Skeletal Remains have done then Ephemeral will appeal, but this is, and effectively so, bereft of technicality, and instead relies on the boulder riffs and blubbery dynamics to drag itself along. A perfect soundtrack to a long hot summer.

Neil Arnold

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