Review Summary: Crush. Kill. Destroy. Erdve release a devastating album that shows progress from their previous releases.
Erdve are a sludge/post metal band that mixes together a wide range of influences to create their very intense and calculated music. Everything here is top-tier, from the post-metal inspired interludes and sections which help the music breathe. But the main attraction is the heavier sections, in which are absolutely devastating. – the instruments have been engineered in terms of production to a level which heightens the effect of Erdve’s third full-length album and what they have clearly, carefully and brilliantly intended to achieve. Right from the start you are greeted with a thick wall of sound – the sludge element to their sound is prevalent throughout the album – but the dark, bleak atmosphere present here is on another level. The melodies are bleak and distressing – the guitars exude riffs of the highest order that fall somewhere between metallic hardcore and post-metal flavoured sludge metal. In all honesty, I cannot fault a single second of this album. The vocals are utterly ferocious and delivered incredibly well – his range isn’t necessarily or particularly dextrous but his voice timbre and passion is most certainly present in an abundance. This is some seriously heavy material – the guitars churn out some absolutely monolithic riffs that would crush pretty much the majority of most bands alike these guys. The difference with Erdve is that they are very consistent in the quality of their music – you can tell just by listening to the mix of influences that they display over the course of the album. Imagine if Meshuggah started writing more post-metal style riffs – add a little hint of blackened sludge and you get the idea that I am trying to convey across in this review. Put simply, this is more than just your standard band of this kind – seriously, they produce some of the heaviest music I have heard in a long time. This is probably their most pristine and intelligent album, yet even though it is better than their previous two albums, it does sort of follow on from the sound that they have nurtured to perfection since releasing their first LP.
Sludge, post metal and some very interesting hardcore influence is the main game present here. It can feel like it is a little restricted in terms of variation but ***, these guys can definitely bring the ruckus/. There are some ear-bleeding and intense heavy sections over the course of Epigrama – but the way they weave in the melancholy and desolate atmosphere and chord choices is so good. Their music isn’t particularly technical or overblown – everything here sounds like it has had a lot of thought process assigned to how it sounds and they have stepped up their game a lot since their previous album. The flow of the album is great and there are no bad tracks out of the eight songs present here – like I mentioned previously, it can feel a tad one-note at times. But it is just so effortless the way they combine the post metal atmospheres that blend with the more sludge orientated riffs and perhaps (shall I say it or not?) hardcore breakdown ‘influence’. However, they have basically turned their songs into a collection of breakdown riffs that aren’t really breakdown riffs. If anything, they 'feel' like breakdowns but they carry the songs well and the intensity is never diluted.
I’ve always enjoyed this band when I listen to them. Erdve are probably the leading act in this niche style. Epigrama is a thoroughly enjoyable listen from front to back. Personally, I think and hope this band are going to go places after releasing this. Even though the music is very underground and inaccessible for most, Erdve have created an album that treads lightly into a select few related subgenres, rather than heavily being in that way of combining the genres that they blend together. In other words, they have pretty much perfected their style to a tee and this is most evident when listening to this album when comparing it to their older material.
Fans of sludge/doom/hardcore and post metal should definitely give this a go. If you don’t like it, you can have your money back. In all fairness, I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the album that catapults them forward in their careers. A thoroughly enjoyable album that isn’t necessarily anything new but it is executed in a manner that displays fantastic musicianship paired with even better songwriting than before. Try this if you want to feel like a steamroller is slowly crushing you to death – yet littered in spaces and nooks and crannies you will find very memorable post metal influence scattered here and there like ashes of a loved one thrown into the ocean. I’d say so far this year, this is one of the albums which will end up in my top 10 at the end of the year. Great band – great album. There is nothing left to say – listen to this if you want to feel obliterated in sonic form. I can almost guarantee that you will most definitely not be disappointed.
