EP REVIEW: Tower Of Silence – Ephemeral

South Florida has been the source of some truly essential metallic hardcore over the years. POISON THE WELL are one of the most important bands in the genre without question, as are SHAI HULUD, and even the somewhat lesser-known STRONGARM represent arguably the best ever overtly Christian hardcore outfit and are absolutely worth checking out regardless of your religion or belief. All this bodes well then for EPHEMERAL – a ferocious four-piece from those same fruitful lands looking to build on the hype of their 2022 demo with the release of their debut EP Tower Of Silence via the always brilliant DAZE.

Of course, if anything Florida is even more known for its iconic death metal scene, and that certainly seems to have rubbed off on EPHEMERAL here too. Vocalist/drummer Matt Cody has a real vicious guttural in particular, and the riffs in general have a thick and sharp death metal edge that ultimately gives the band a harder and more aggressive sound than one might typically associate with their aforementioned forebears. With a few hints of melodeath in the mix too – notably in Silenced and Mortal Eye – the band’s approach for most of Tower Of Silence’s 15 and a half minutes is one of crushing violence, familiar enough to many, and yet fresh and sharp enough to be worthy of multiple spins.

The track that ‘goes the hardest’ so to speak is probably the lead single Tower Has Fallen, placed right in the middle of the record and marked out most of all by a hugely destructive chugging riff which comes sandwiched between some vicious thrashing. But really, everything hits the spot here; opener End Of God has a thick headbanging groove of its own as well as an almost doomy melodic turn around the halfway mark; Silenced thrashes particularly hard before running into more of a melodeathy gallop towards its end; and Mortal Eye brings the record to a climax with a suitably epic final guitar solo. In amongst all these is Eoness’ Call, a brief interlude that snaps somewhat jarringly from ominous pads to a typical metalcore instrumental with a hard to discern speech sample buried somewhere in the mix.

Ultimately then, there’s nothing hugely out of the ordinary here. EPHEMERAL have constructed this tower of theirs on sturdy, established foundations, and while they may be an obvious enough product of their influences at the moment – which is totally fine for a band on their debut EP – they also deliver their ideas with a level of competence and aggression that is no doubt an indicator of bigger, better and meaner things to come.

Rating: 7/10

Tower Of Silence is set for release on May 19th via DAZE.

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