Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Aepoch "Awakening Inception" Review


          Potentially the biggest release out of Kitchener, Ontario this year is the debut full length album from Death Metal maniacs Aepoch entitled "Awakening Inception". The album is slated to be released here on April 13th with the band going on tour to promote the album across Canada alongside. The album is more than full of influence and for anyone who was a fan of the band's first EP "Aepocolypse", this will be a real treat for you.
 
          For anyone who has seen Aepoch before, you'll be familiar with a fair few of these songs, "Delirium of Negation" (formerly known as "Paradise") is the second track on the album, which stuck out right away as someone who's caught this band on multiple occasions. The instrumentals are pretty defining in a lot of Aepoch's track and none are more prevalent than this one. "Tabula Rasa" is a track that the band has been playing live for quite a while, almost since the first time I had seen them and that was a fair few times ago. "Tabula Rasa" is probably the stand out track on this album for me, its such an intricate piece of music, from the Technical and Progressive Death Metal side of the verses and chorus, to the jazz infused bridge in the middle and the Technical and Melodic mix of the second half the album with the solos. On top of that the lyrical prowess relating to the cosmos and the opening of the third eye are incredibly well written.

          Another track you may recognize from the bands live setting, or just because they released it as a single, is the much more Black Metal infused "Burn Them at the Stakes". If you're a fan of the Technical Black Metal side, much like that of Enfold Darkness, "Burn Them at the Stakes" will be right up your alley. The track, especially with the last 2 minutes or so takes on a much more Emperor sort of approach with the chaotic melody it implements, all before throwing some incredibly technical solos over top and a few fake out endings. While we are on the note of these Black Metal influenced tracks, we have to discuss "Mentally Raped By Christ", which takes a more Blackened Death Metal approach, as opposed to the old school Black Metal approach, much more along the lines of that of Behemoth or Goatwhore. If there was any song I could say for certain is influenced by Enfold Darkness, this is it.

          Needless to say, if you're an Extreme Metal fan in almost any capacity, this is an album you need to check out. Countless levels of influence and an incredible level of musicianship in this release, from the technicality of First Fragment and Beyond Creation, the Black Metal aggression of Emperor and Dissection or the crossover of the two like Behemoth or Enfold Darkness, there's something for you here. On top of that, if you live in Canada, Aepoch will be trekking across the country in April alongside UK Death Metal band Bloodshot Dawn, with their hometown show being treated as the album release show on April 21st.






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