Review Summary: One hell of a symphonic debut
Stumbling across Epigram was a happy little accident, to plagiarize Bob Ross. I proverbially bumped into this record on my way to look up another album, but I’m glad I took a minute to give ‘Obsolescent’ a listen, because this is 28 minutes of truly excellent blackened symphonic death metal.
I’ll try to not type that out too many times, because eventually the genre descriptors get in the way. Here’s the deal though: if you like tastefully smothering synths, neck-snapping death metal riffs and pulverizing drums then you’ll like ‘Obsolescent.’ At a quick 28 minutes, this album doesn’t require much of a time commitment. But even with a shorter runtime, and only two of the eight songs clocking in above four minutes, all of the tracks feel fully fleshed out.
Take for instance the opener, “Myrmidon,” which previews all of the elements contained within the rest of the album in a paltry 1:35, while still somehow managing to feel complete. Of course, the real gems on this album are a bit longer and include the exceptional “Wrath of Betrayed” and “Hour of Gods” which quickly follow. “Wrath of Betrayed” showcases a band comfortable with its symphonic black metal influences without sinking into outright worship. “Hour of Gods” showcases beautiful, ominous strings and bone-smashing death metal riffage. In my notes for this song I wrote “RIFF CITY BITCH RIFF RIFF CITY BITCH” which I think conveys the main point without spilling too much ink.
One of the more interesting aspects of this album is its clear deathcore influences, although there’s never a point in this album where I felt like I was listening to straight-up deathcore and there’s certainly no breakdowns.
The production on ‘Obsolescent’ certainly has what I’ll call the “deathcore sheen” to it. Everything on here is clean, perfectly mixed and plays nicely within the allotted headroom. Normally that “sheen” is something I don’t particularly enjoy, but the high production quality here seems to really work. I think that’s because, unlike other bands who try to pull off symphonic death metal (read: Lorna Shore), Epigram knows how to write a song in such a way that all of the pieces can breathe. Instead of pumping everything up to 11 and taking a maximalist approach (wow this Lorna Shore breakdown sounds like a damn gunshot!), all of the instruments and vocals feel perfectly pieced together, so the production allows the listener to pick apart the excellently written riffs, leads and synths.
A great example of what I’m talking about comes by way of “No Sin” which features headbang-able riffs coupled with deathcore screams alongside the ever-present synths and Cookie Monster growls. Everything is clean but heavy, familiar yet fresh. It also highlights one of the aspects that really makes this album pop for me: killer spacy guitar leads a la Worm’s ‘Necropalace.’ Epigram seems to have called in a lead guitarist for these, and it works wonders for elevating the atmosphere and general badassery of this album. “The Usurper’s Throne” and “Necro Sun” offer two more excellent tracks that traffic in all the things this band does well.
There are a couple flaws here, however. “Empires” marks a low point for the album with fairly forgettable and plodding riffs that don’t go anywhere terribly interesting. “Maelstrom” closes out the album with a solidly symphonic slab that, while confident, doesn’t really reach the height of the record that precedes it.
But these are pretty minor complaints overall. This is an exceptionally strong debut album for a band whose first and only other release came nearly a decade ago by way of an EP. While in a similar vein as their first EP, “Obsolescent” marks a significant improvement in every way for this Los Angeles-based outfit. Here’s to happy little accidents, eh?
