Essence
We were recently contacted by Essence, a five piece prog-metalcore band from Belgium. Formed in 2005, the band take the sounds of August Burns Red, Elitist and Architects to craft their own approach to music, working as a unit to produce their first ever full length album, The Defining Elements. They were nice enough to drop me a copy to check out so I thought I’d best see what was going on!
As the Intro track gets things going there’s a sense of reflectiveness and darkness coming out of the music, the sea sound effects creating an image of a night time beach scene in your head as the soft and melodic guitar work hints at what is to follow. Despite the darkness built into the music, there’s also a sense of melody and calm flowing through this track, almost building into what is going to follow without fully giving away what it’s going to be. Revelations does exactly what the name suggests, suddenly reveals what this album is all about, launching us straight into a melee of roaring vocal lines, pounding guitars and drums which are going to get your rib cage shaking. Powerful and straight to the point from the off, this track seems a million miles away from the calming start we were presented with, yet somehow seems to follow on naturally, almost as a continuation of the style begun early on. Syncopated at times, and at other times more straight forwards, throughout this track there are different approaches on offer, each of them presenting a different take on the track but all coming to the same conclusion – this is sounding pretty damned good!
Moving into Epiphony the theme of melodic heaviness continues, this time launching head first into a pummelling combination of drums and guitars, the whole mix forming the sort of sound you could imagine kicking off a live show with aplomb. Breaking down to fully accentuate the heaviness of the track, once again this is a track which could simply be heavy, but the band have changed it to become more technical and advanced than something so simple as that. The technicalities of the track seem to flow throughout, from alternating drum timings through to lead snippets, it’s a hell of a mix which, once again, the band seem to have flawlessly pulled off. The same can be said for Sin Against Sinners, another track which puts these guys on a parapet and shows what it is they can do when they set their minds to it. Blisteringly heavy once again, the intricate lead lines which flow throughout the melee of sounds are quite simply astonishing, really elevating this track to a whole new level and showing that there’s no stopping Essence once they get going.
Standing out as a high point on the album, title track The Defining Elements marks a change in the progression of things, this time opening soft and melodic yet once again incorporating the elements of darkness which makes this album so advanced. Soft guitar lines paint a picture as the track progresses, showing once again that it’s fine to hammer out some metal, but to create something more special and more well formed can sometimes have even more of an impact. Personally, this was one of my favourite tracks from the album, simply for how well put together and written it is – even if it is an instrumental track. Returning to the all out heavy approach for Assumptions and The Abyss, there’s no stopping the onslaught as we reach penultimate track Providence. Once again showing that it is possible to make a heavy track which has form and style, this is another high point on the album and another point which suggests to me that this is a band to see live.
Closing with Choices we’re once again shown some of the more ‘out there’ ideas of the band, opening with electronic effects before throwing down into a pit of all out devastation and distortion. Once again managing to form a sound which is going to get pits moving in a Bury Your Dead style, there’s still that sense of rhythm and form flowing throughout this track, leaving you convinced that what you’re hearing has to be more established and well known than it is, showing that this is a band to really keep an eye out for.
I wasn’t sure about Essence when I read their write up as simply, it didn’t say an awful lot about what to expect. On reflection though that was probably a good thing as I went into this album unsure of what I was going to hear, then got presented with an album which has opened my eyes. Essence are a band to keep an eye out for as simply, they’re going to achieve bigger things from here on – and if they continue making albums like this, things are looking pretty damned cool!
To find out more about Essence, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Words: Dave Nicholls
As the Intro track gets things going there’s a sense of reflectiveness and darkness coming out of the music, the sea sound effects creating an image of a night time beach scene in your head as the soft and melodic guitar work hints at what is to follow. Despite the darkness built into the music, there’s also a sense of melody and calm flowing through this track, almost building into what is going to follow without fully giving away what it’s going to be. Revelations does exactly what the name suggests, suddenly reveals what this album is all about, launching us straight into a melee of roaring vocal lines, pounding guitars and drums which are going to get your rib cage shaking. Powerful and straight to the point from the off, this track seems a million miles away from the calming start we were presented with, yet somehow seems to follow on naturally, almost as a continuation of the style begun early on. Syncopated at times, and at other times more straight forwards, throughout this track there are different approaches on offer, each of them presenting a different take on the track but all coming to the same conclusion – this is sounding pretty damned good!
Moving into Epiphony the theme of melodic heaviness continues, this time launching head first into a pummelling combination of drums and guitars, the whole mix forming the sort of sound you could imagine kicking off a live show with aplomb. Breaking down to fully accentuate the heaviness of the track, once again this is a track which could simply be heavy, but the band have changed it to become more technical and advanced than something so simple as that. The technicalities of the track seem to flow throughout, from alternating drum timings through to lead snippets, it’s a hell of a mix which, once again, the band seem to have flawlessly pulled off. The same can be said for Sin Against Sinners, another track which puts these guys on a parapet and shows what it is they can do when they set their minds to it. Blisteringly heavy once again, the intricate lead lines which flow throughout the melee of sounds are quite simply astonishing, really elevating this track to a whole new level and showing that there’s no stopping Essence once they get going.
Standing out as a high point on the album, title track The Defining Elements marks a change in the progression of things, this time opening soft and melodic yet once again incorporating the elements of darkness which makes this album so advanced. Soft guitar lines paint a picture as the track progresses, showing once again that it’s fine to hammer out some metal, but to create something more special and more well formed can sometimes have even more of an impact. Personally, this was one of my favourite tracks from the album, simply for how well put together and written it is – even if it is an instrumental track. Returning to the all out heavy approach for Assumptions and The Abyss, there’s no stopping the onslaught as we reach penultimate track Providence. Once again showing that it is possible to make a heavy track which has form and style, this is another high point on the album and another point which suggests to me that this is a band to see live.
Closing with Choices we’re once again shown some of the more ‘out there’ ideas of the band, opening with electronic effects before throwing down into a pit of all out devastation and distortion. Once again managing to form a sound which is going to get pits moving in a Bury Your Dead style, there’s still that sense of rhythm and form flowing throughout this track, leaving you convinced that what you’re hearing has to be more established and well known than it is, showing that this is a band to really keep an eye out for.
I wasn’t sure about Essence when I read their write up as simply, it didn’t say an awful lot about what to expect. On reflection though that was probably a good thing as I went into this album unsure of what I was going to hear, then got presented with an album which has opened my eyes. Essence are a band to keep an eye out for as simply, they’re going to achieve bigger things from here on – and if they continue making albums like this, things are looking pretty damned cool!
To find out more about Essence, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Words: Dave Nicholls