Review Summary: The best sounding thing to have come out of Cambridge
It's been a fun ride following the Cambridge-based rock duo Echo Tail develop from their debut,
Mirroring. Over the course of nearly a year, Mark Stebbing and his brother Tom had gone from post metal to industrial with a couple nods to the alternative rock of the 90's. But with all the interesting ideas juggled in their albums came a couple of reoccurring issues. One issue that has been plaguing the band is consistency, the more experimental tracks in albums like
Hold The Throne and
I Will Leave It All For You can contrast sharply with the rest of the album, making the flow between tracks rather difficult at times. With
King Defeatism, Mark seems to have taken notice of this and has brought back the heavier, aggressive sounds of the first two ET albums, letting the electronics take a back seat to the guitar shredding, which this time sounds better than it ever has before. Indeed, with
King Defeatism, everything about Echo Tail sounds better than it has before.
King Defeatism is a direct follow up to
Hold The Throne, which followed the tale of an oppressive royal family in the moments where tensions rise between the people and their government, and things could go wrong. But where
Hold The Throne leaves off,
Defeatism picks up, right as things turn nasty. Now Echo Tail is an instrumental band, which means this story is not being told through lyrics. They instead opt to tell their story through their instruments, relying on song structure, atmosphere, and instrumental performances. The benefits are two-fold: one is that everything here (aside from the basic plot) is open to interpretation, allowing for every listener to have his or her own unique idea of how the story takes place. And the other is that the songs are much more complex and thought out than they would've been with a vocalist, allowing them to stay fresh for multiple listens through as there is a lot to discover with every listen.
Echo Tail has always been a musically diverse band. While their music has predominantly been atmospheric post-metal, they have taken influences from artists all the way from old-school icons like The Beatles to the nostalgic grunge of Alice In Chains. In the process they have also taken notes from doom metal, house, industrial, and many other genres. With
Defeatism this willingness to play with sounds is still there, but dealt with carefully. Rapid tremolo picking serves to provide a chaotic climax following the increasing tension between the government and its citizens, while electronic clicks serve to invoke the image of a fire that remains after a violent storm.
One of the biggest improvements made here over previous albums is the production, which is marvelous; every instrument is clear and has its moment to shine without having to compete with the other instruments. While this was present in all LPs from
Sonic Slave onward, the instruments have never sounded in harmony so well as in here. Tom's drumming now brings explosive power while Stebbing's shredding guitarwork is at once chaotic and measured. Synths here serve as a backdrop instead of a centerpiece and their eerie sounds help to bridge songs together to help form
King Defeatism into a complete whole.
Defeatism is Echo Tail's most accomplished album yet. Every song fits in effortlessly, flowing from one to the next as if waves in an ocean. The instrumentation, production, and songwriting have all taken big leaps up, and even with all the influences fit in, the music remains incredibly accessible for newcomers.
King Defeatism is a sign of maturity for Echo Tail, it shows a duo experienced at their craft and careful in their approach, which is especially exciting for a project that's only about a year old.
