Mephitis

It’s always interesting when a band change track significantly during their early stages, since a compelling reason is usually the cause. In the case of Earthcorpse, a clear switch from underground death metal to the burgeoning British doom death sound occurred between the release of this debut EP and the recording of their first full-length. I should probably make it clear that the doom death on Born Bleeding was extremely by-the-book, aping My Dying Bride and Anathema for the whole package, yet Mephitis proves more mixed. North American death metal takes the lead, Morbid Angel and Death perhaps giving the most obvious cues, although mixed in with some Celtic Frost flavours and less extreme material.

The guitar playing ability shown here shocked me, seeming far above the efforts on the debut 3 years later as Matt Burdett and Justin Langlois riff speedily and accurately, dropping in a few amelodic solos at times too. As a death metal release, the high pace and infrequent blasting are to be expected, yet disparate elements show up on every track. Some slow breaks on ‘Pagan’ suggest that Earthcorpse had already heard Paradise Lost’s Gothic and were considering moving in that direction, though any song where the final lyric is a rough roar of “To Mega Therion” mandates a mention of Celtic Frost. The experimental nature of the Swiss extreme grandfathers also crops up on the longest cut ‘Eternal Pain’, thrusting folky violin on the listener from the off and matching it with slightly jaunty riffing. In this instance, I can’t claim that My Dying Bride’s mournful classical strings provided the formula, since the piece harks back more clearly to At the Gates’ landmark The Red in the Sky Is Ours and its drilling riffing. The 6 minutes of ‘Eternal Pain’ prove the most gloriously captivating of the EP, fantastic lyrics included.

I’d listen to this all day instead of the humdrum stuff that followed. Granted, ‘Immortal’ is actually quite boring in the manner that it repeats its riffs into the ground before turning to a more strident style at mid-pace, yet the production helps all the various styles throughout the release, which can hardly grow too tedious at only 22 minutes. Something about those old school death albums with hidden faces on the covers promises perennially cool music, and that’s fortunately the case for Mephitis.