Ephel Duath - On Death And Cosmos Review
by Matt Hensch
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I can't stand this. I never had an opportunity to fully experience the testament of Ephel Duath other than the occasional song here and there, and I honestly didn't feel like the band could justify the weird avant-garde flavor this Italian squad sprinkles over its feast of weirdness. Still, no huge quarrel on my end; we could peacefully coexist without trouble. Well, I got around to hearing "On Death and Cosmos," and it's an unbearably directionless effort. Ephel Duath mastermind Davide Tiso married former Crisis vocalist Karyn Crisis and enlisted her as the EP's voice; he also recruited hardened veteran Steve DiGiorgio and drum guru Marco Minnemann to complete this very strange and unusual lineup. With such an interesting battalion, maybe something good could come from Ephel Duath's well of weirdness, right? R-right? Guys?Sorry, but no. DiGiorgio's talents are lost somewhere in Tiso's infinite swarm of jazz-laden riffs crawling in useless mid-paced circles, and Minnemann really doesn't do anything relevant or exceptionally noteworthy. You could probably sum up each track by picturing meandering guitar chops revolving on some abysmal stab at avant-garde or jazz without any sense of substance within the actual riff work itself and someone monotonously screaming into a microphone. All three songs in a nutshell, really. It doesn't help that the dung displays are pretty much clones in that the same ideas are obviously rehashed with identical intentions, and Crisis keeps yapping and yapping and yapping and yapping. Literally just different s*** from the same rectum. Ephel Duath chains all three songs to a carriage and laughs as they are dragged for over six minutes each on their bare asses, stripping every piece of flesh so carelessly. Honestly, what do you think happens when compositions are mindlessly stretched out like this? I feel like this is an attempt at saturating the listener in something original or artistic, but it's actually just a load of crap. "On Death and Cosmos" is one of those releases which tanks on every scale of enjoyment. The instrumental performances are either silenced or vapid; the music itself is poorly written and banal; and there's no emotion or fulcrum that can reasonably justify what this bowel movement offers in a world full of superior acts running circles around the sub-par substance within "On Death and Cosmos."
Ephel Duath - On Death And Cosmos Rating:2.5
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