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Thursday, June 11, 2026

ERDVE: "Epigrama"

 


This is not our first ride with this hard-hitting Lithuanian band. There is less of a sludge-ridden ugliness and more of a syncopated hardcore groove not unlike how Harms Way drops it when it's hot. The first track is as heavy as you could want it when it comes to this sort of thing. The second song offers more melody from the guitar, which is a smart move rather than jsut committing to beating you in the ears. What this band has going against it is not unlike a problem that a band like Meshuggah faces. Their vocalist barks the same in every song, so it places all the weight on the guitars. 

To combat this, the guitar tries to employ different melodies to add an atmospheric texture to "Ydos" while not restraining their hardcore tendencies. There are some great guitar texture on this album that leads to ambient-minded riffs balancing out the weight of their attack, though the vocals keep the songs from being catchy. The electronic touches help, but they could stand to experiment even more. 'Svertas" also carries some extra depth in the ghostly echo it creates, but this gets plowed by the chug of the crunching wave of guitar. 

The hypnotic ringing to "Raukles" is darker, but they fall in behind it turned up to 11, and it kills the moment. The last song does carry a more djent-like groove. It also has more space, rather than just crashing against you with its sheer density. This is heavy and has more depth than your average sludge album that sets out just to crush you, but the previous album caught me more, so I will give this one an 8.5, Out on Season of Mist 




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