Band's List Death Black Ethelyn Devilicious

Call me stupid! I was listening and listening again to Ethelyn’s sophomore release Devilicious and the more I played the record the more I was finding it very close in sound to Repossession’s Reign Over Inferno MCD released back in 2008. Guess it makes much more sense now that upon checking the credentials of Ethelyn on their Spirit Of Metal page they do share two members of Repossession. Duh!

So we all know the Polish scene. It's been a haven for Extreme Metal since the rise of Vader or Acid Drinkers in the late 80s and nowadays probably the most prolific European country in both Black Metal and Death Metal. On the other hand, most people outside Poland have only heard about the more extreme side of this scene with bands like Behemoth, Decapitated or Graveland. Yet there’s also a more melodic scene out there of which Repossession and Ethelyn are two of the most prominent figureheads.

Playing Blackened Death Metal with more than a few hints at melody, Ethelyn is not a band to be classified in the dull section of “Melodic” bands. While nowadays most people think that Melodeath is best incarnated by bands like Children of Bodom or In Flames, they tend to forget that in the beginning of this scene there was still Death Metal in Melodeath whereas now it’s become more of a farce than anything else.

Good thing Ethelyn remembered this too. Their songs have a very powerful and enthusiastic feel to them much like fellow deathsters US Helcaraxe. Do not try to look for overly occult stuff a la Father Befouled or Necros Christos or a wall of aggression like Origin or Conqueror, Ethelyn do play Death Metal but it's more one that relies on strong epic melodies for your head to bang to. Songs are usually near the 4 minutes mark, enough to develop their theme and bring it straight to your face like nasty uppercuts.

To give a rather crude image of Ethelyn's sound, try to picture Carcass’ Heartwork riffing with added influences from Black Metal and extremely catchy choruses and you’d be on the right track. It may not be the best record ever released because in my opinion it does lack a few outstanding tracks (besides the gorgeous ‘Necrotic’) to make it exceptional but one thing is for certain, the Poles are heading in the right direction and their third record should definitely meet higher expectations.