Ethos "Two Song Demo"

  Hailing from the dark shadowy lands of Livermore, CA, the black metal band Ethos offers listeners two new songs of blasphemous grim sounding musical retribution. Building off their debut EP, “Empty Path,” that was released a couple years back, the band continues to write songs of blackened death like terror and keeps finding new ways to express their extreme music making talents.

    It was around two years ago that I interviewed the band's guitarist/vocalist for this blog and talked in-depth about the EP. I remembering hearing great potential on that debut EP and felt like the band had something to offer the extreme metal world. Compared to most black metal bands, Ethos wasn’t trying to go for the simple trim picking riffs and gimmicky simplistic satanic lyrical content that has been overused to death.

    The two new demo songs, “Unfathomable Essence” and “Decried by the Presence Beyond,” convey a more unapologetic and heavier tone. There are these thick layers of guitar that provide a more bombastic delivery. I find the recording of the vocals to be extremely well matched with the instrumental compositions which the band also did on “Empty Path.” Another strong area is the drumming and I notice a slight improvement in the playing and recording of the drum parts.

    “Decried by the Presence Beyond,” is probably my favorite of the two, mainly due to the heavier and slower riff sections that present more of a death doom sound, yet still conveys that raw black metal tone. You feel as though you are being sucked into a void of endless darkness falling through time and space with the sounds of guitar distortion and drums to lead you on through the cosmic infinity. Overall, it is a well crafted piece of music and one that I believe helps to separate Ethos from being labeled a generic black metal act.

    The other song on the demo, “Unfathomable Essence,” is a solid piece of music and definitely has the potential to become a strong song if featured on a full-length album. I just wish the drums would have been recorded slightly louder, because the drumming seems to get downed out by the guitars. The song’s overall atmosphere is what really captured my attention and the musical composition is also well thought out.

    After hearing these two songs I am definitely looking forward to Ethos releasing more new material, especially with what I think can be explored further if the band builds off the musical style that they established on these two tracks. If you enjoy raw black metal that opens your mind to the dark worlds beyond and shows no mercy, you need to check out what Ethos is currently doing.


Ethos “Decried by the Presence Beyond” :

Ethos Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/EthosBlackMetal/about/