EP REVIEW: For Those Afraid To Die – Ephemera
You’ve got to give EPHEMERA credit, they don’t get overshadowed easily. When a comparatively young and little-known band talks a famous figure into appearing on an EP, it can all-too-easily backfire. The celebrity guest can become the main focus rather than a cameo, straddling the whole thing like the audio equivalent of the world’s largest man, covered in fourteen carat gold and stealing the spotlight faster than you can say “look closer, Lenny.”
But despite being joined by the anguished cries of one Jesse Leach, For Those Afraid To Die still feels like EPHEMERA’s show. It helps that they have less of an overt metal influence than Leach’s day job, and they’ve got enough personality to leave a positive impression over the course of this EP. For Those Afraid To Die consists of one intro track and three proper songs, and it’s a decent way to kickstart their year.
Appropriately enough, it starts with a short melodic passage with some distorted spoken word recordings laid over the top. It’s difficult to make out precisely what the speakers are talking about, but at times they sound confused, emotional, and out of touch. Then the title track kicks in and EPHEMERA let their existential anguish pour forth. It’s more mid-paced than you might expect from a hardcore record but reaches some impressively hard breakdowns in the second half and features a delightfully disgusting “blegh.”
Heaven follows, one weirdly optimistic guitar riff contrasting with more vein-popping vocals and the aforementioned guest appearance. The two singers complement each other well, while the discordant post-hardcore leanings make it reminiscent of Jesse Leach’s THE EMPIRE SHALL FALL project, rather than his more famous act and it’s a nice, eyebrow-raising centrepiece.
Closing track House Fire is the shortest and least satisfying of the trio. The song itself is fine but the brief run time does it no favours and the ending feels abrupt. There’s plenty of room for tightly edited and abrasive ragers in this genre, but this House Fire was just starting to warm up and suddenly had cold water poured on it. It’s a very long way from being terrible though and there’s bound to be a few folks who enjoy how streamlined it is.
EPHEMERA only stick around for a short time and For Those Afraid To Die wraps up in less than twelve minutes, but what we do get is promising. There’s not enough material here to decide if they’ve found their feet entirely, but they do sound confident, capable and just left-field enough to potentially attract a cult following.
Rating: 6/10
For Those Afraid To Die is out now via Morning Star Heresy.
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