For those not familiar with the name, teratology is the scientific study of congenital malformations. Have a look at the jacket of this second opus of
Eths and you’ll get a good idea of it is all about. As always visceral, as always intense, the Marseillais combo returns in strength with a new album in the continuation of
Soma, but not only.
Nothing can be powerful enough for
Eths’ members. Indeed, the band made a name for itself by sheer strength. I still remember that concert hold in the middle of nowhere in the 78 (Yvelines, in France), in a gymnasium, where they played as front band for
Misanthrope (sometimes in 2001 or 2002). Candice’s band had literally blown me away with its tonic show and the quality of its compos. 5 years later, the band can pride itself on having sold 25000 discs of
Soma and on benefiting of a never-felling scenic reputation. This is only fair in the end …
So, if
Soma marked the passage to the next level,
Tératologie is literally going to place the band in orbit. This disc is a kind of improved
Soma, as one may say: more anger and more violence in the music than before for an album darker and closer from the abyss than any other. The aficionados of the band won’t be disappointed. If you had found the ambiance of
SomaR dark, here, the ambiance is worst: sticky.
Digging in the band’s discography, I realize that the neo-metal side which characterized the band shaded off to let the place to something simply more metal. If the sound is still easy to recognize, the riffs don’t rebound as much as they used to and their number has clearly increased.
That’s great as we can now discover more variation making the whole more surprising. The sounds are more elaborated, the intro riffs richer, the notion of refrain/verse has disappeared. To summarize, we now swim in a black oil sea.
And if this feeling is so pronounced, it is because the general ambiance is not festive. Piano usage is ultra morbid, creating a petrifying “survival horror” polish to the whole. But the samples are also heavily present with creaking, shouting, cries and whispers.
More elaborated, more visceral,
Tératologie is an ode to horror.
And what can be said of Candice? His vocal registry has never been richer or more controlled.
More extreme, his shouted singing will send cold shivers down your spine. But the worst in all of that are the clear passages, more numerous and more terrifying than ever. It sounds a little like the voice of a sadistic young girl ready to emasculate the first male coming too close. Chilling…
But all of these feelings also come from the production of the disc. Impeccable, it allows playing with the ambiances without doing too much. Each instrument sounds like fire and I must say the bass lines ring perfectly, reinforcing the morbid ambiance.
A disc simply enormous: I know I keep repeating myself, but this disc is simply too good. The year 2007 is definitely the year of France and
Tératologie proves it one more time. Here is a disc that will bring noise in your home.
Transleted by Heavyboy
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