Ethers Edge

Return To Type is one of the best tracks on the album, the longest clocking 9 minutes, with an incredible proggy metal riff that is not quite in sync but works so well competing against the sporadic drum beat and pulsing bassline. The vocals here remind me of Steven Wilson at times. There are some speed tempo blastbeats especially with the double kick drums by Jesse Frizzell. The guitar riffage by Adam Chippendale breaks through the wild talkative vocals. The instrumental break is inspirational, the power metal halts to make room for a rather gentle clean guitar passage. The track ends with staccato blasts of explosive guitar outbursts. The lyrics tell the painful story; “This is not rejection of you” but the “demons of the past” are haunting the guilt wracked main character who is conflicting with his own emotional state. He has returned to the old ways again after finishing the relationship. Now he is back in the drug scene; partying and drinking has taken over and he is consumed by the rejection of the accepted way of living. He has returned to the “old stomping ground”. The conflict is that there remains strong feelings towards the other person, and the inevitable realisation that this change has caused hurt. One of the definitive highlights of the album.

Writer’s Void has a lengthy intro with some awesome lead guitar work and an ambient key pad with sustained spacey swathes of synth strings. The estranged off kilter high pitched guitars are echoed with a choppy riff on a second guitar, then they are joined by a distorted guitar. Suddenly it stops with a minimalist acoustic introducing a new riff, with a metronomic sweet harmonic beauty. The metal guitar sound drowns it out and takes over the riff. One of my favourite pieces of music follows where the guitars lock into a simple but effective chunky riff, complemented with some acoustic trade offs. The track reflects a blank period in the character’s mind who is lost without thoughts, lost without views, and stuck on a different plane that is devoid of feeling. A simply wonderful and mesmirising track.