ALBUM REVIEW: Herephemine – The Ever Living
In recent years, heavy music has really expanded into new and exciting pastures. With the walls of genres being demolished, bands now have the creative freedom to create truly imaginative and expansive soundscapes. Cinematic metallers THE EVER LIVING are one such band. Arriving with their debut full length album, Herephemine, the London-based quintet present a record that is quite the exhilarating listen.
On first glance, Herephemine is a daunting prospect. Clocking in at a mighty 66 minutes, the extensive runtime could be intimidating for those who just need a quick musical fix, but THE EVER LIVING just aren’t that kind of band. With a extensive runtime the band are able to weave an elaborate tapestry of sounds that rich of emotion. Opening track The Great Defeatist sets a bleak tone right from the off thanks to its sweeping orchestral arrangements, delicate guitar play and rip-roaring screams from Chris Bevan Lee. Instantly a suffocating atmosphere is created as the band lean heavily into almost sludge territory and the resulting atmosphere is one that pulls you into the depths and refuses you to come up for air. It’s a punishing but simply emphatic opening to the record.
From there, things take an interesting turn as THE EVER LIVING intend to keep you on your toes. New Mutiny is an emotional and moving affair as the keyboard work from Chris Bevan Lee proves fundamental to the backbone of the track’s intensity. As Ross Kenkinson‘s bombastic drumming delivers blow after blow and the riffs from guitarists Andrei Alan and Charlie Webb swirl above, Lee‘s use of the orchestral and keyboard elements create a mood that is hauntingly beautiful. The solitary use of the keyboard breaks up the intensity remarkably well and gives the track’s lengthy runtime room to breathe. It’s a track that soars and plummets but never once breaking the immersion. This is arguably THE EVER LIVING at their very best.
After the prolonged and powerful sense of dread created through the menacing and brooding soundscape experienced in Prismatic Dissonance, Incandescent Array swings the momentum once again. Gorgeous notes from the keyboards soar above the mid-tempo slams from the riffs whilst Bevan Lee‘s vocals weave inbetween the immense wall of sound as THE EVER LIVING pull you into a cloud of elation. That’s the beauty behind Herephemine, the band have clearly set out for the listener to experience a multitude of emotions and judging from the album’s opening salvo, they have achieved just that.
Perhaps what is most interesting about Herephemine however is the massive focus towards the orchestral elements, which are arguably more crucial to the band’s sound than the vocals. With vocals dispatched sparingly throughout the album, the focus is clearly towards the pallet of musical elements at their disposal and THE EVER LIVING reign supreme here. Take Apex Minor for example. A mighty track weighing in at just shy of eight minutes, this monolithic passage ebbs and flows in wonderful rhythm of delicate keyboards and thick bass tones before subsiding into soft and budding sections where the band build up to a climatic finale where the first vocal screams are unleashed with just a minute to go. This limited use, of what is often a core dynamic to a band’s sound, is utterly effective and it enables the music to connect with the listener.
As the album enters its crucial second half THE EVER LIVING continue to unfold a plethora of musical passages that continue you to experience a multitude of emotions. The intricate guitar melodies and sweeping soothing keys on Foreboding Epiphany raises the hair on the back of the neck as the track washes over you effortlessly and the sense of grandeur experienced through the monumental instrumental Nocturnal Itch is absolutely breathtaking.
However, following track Funeral Waltz is a much-more straightforward and unfortunately predictable affair. The majority of the track opts for an overtly heavy approach with Chris Bevan Lee‘s vocals taking to the forefront, with his screams adding weight to the punchy bass tones and dissonant plodding riffs and whilst this demonstrates the sheer power at their disposal, it’s repetitive structure does become lumbered. However, the track does redeem itself slightly it’s latter stages thanks to a gorgeous sequence of keyboard scales swirling in synch to the moody riffs. Not a bad song by any means but it’s certainly one of the weaker songs on the record. This momentary blip is short-lived though as penultimate track Interrotron quickly recaptures the intensity through ominous guitar play, solid vocal work and a rhythm that is utterly intoxicating before Departure Board offers a soothing finale of delicate guitar lines and moving orchestral elements that draws the record to a close.
THE EVER LIVING have made quite the statement of intent with Herephemine. Pulling from a variety of styles and genres with absolute ease, cinematic metal really is a fitting tag to describe just how expansive their soundscape is. Granted, Herephemine is a complicated and hefty album to digest and it’s elaborate soundscape may be hard to swallow for some, but if you give this record time to unfold and wash upon you, once it sinks its claws in, you’ll be absolutely hooked and craving for more.
Rating: 9/10
Herephemine is out now via Chromism Records.
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