THE PAINTER'S PALETTE

Not to sound pompous, but EPHEL DUATH was an act that deserved attention; and my next additional target besides PECCATUM. When I first discovered EPHEL DUATH, it was filed under "progressive jazz fusion black metal". I had never heard something so insane as I listened the samples. And one day, I came across "THE PAINTER'S PALLETTE" and bought it right there and then.

Now, the first thing that caught my eye was the unnatural lyrical style; the loose ends and tight spots, cryptic beyond recognition, but without a doubt expressing "something"; what that "something" may be is not very clear; but suited to the album's name, there are refferences to paintings/canvas/brush/colours; the last of which is most clear in the song names; each named after a colour.

On the vocal style, I must say that, there is a little weakness to the most amazing vocals; though their combination is beyond potent, individually looked at, there is something missing; Luciano's screams are way too loud to let words through clearly, and Davide's skimming voice is sometimes to low for anyone to hear anything. Together, especially like they do on "Labyrinthine", they achieve a higher level, so I won't hold their individual vocal styles against the act.

As for the music, I don't know where to start. From groovy jazz melodies and acoustsic drumming to black metal-style guitar grinding and twin-pedal abusing, to classical jazz/blues atmospheres to the chaotic, dark black metal-ish atmosphere, EPHEL DUATH harbors a variety of styles in its music. As the "avant-garde metal" movement was started by old black metal artists, the black metal influence is quite clear and understandable. EPHEL DUATH carries all sorts of instruments in its music, and that helps it with the experimental phase; and the mood shifts, time signatures, combined vocals make this album an extravaganza; not something to listen on the way to a dream, but something to pay attention to, take time upon.