Atrox Eternus

It's almost impossible to accurately rate Echoes of Silence albums just because there's so fucking many and they barely seem to change from one to the other- or at least the changes between them are so minute that you could only notice them after a huge number of plays. Of course, since this is Echoes of Silence, actually getting through a huge number of plays is an exercise in futility just because it's predominantly such unlistenable, annoying music. 'Atrox Eternus' is, unsurprisingly, just like every other Echoes of Silence album from the same general period: mechanical, poorly produced, inadequately composed, and designed for the pleasure of no one. I guess I can say it's not measurably WORSE than any of the other releases by the project I own, but it's certainly not any better.

For those who haven't heard (and there's a lot:) Echoes of Silence is an entirely synthesized black metal band. Even the guitars are programmed. Absolutely no effort is made to have them sound convincing or realistic- Guitar Pro produces livelier, more believable sounds than anything on an Echoes of Silence album. Simple tremolo riffs or single-note patterns play over equally simplistic programmed drums while distorted vocals incoherently hiss and babble overhead and synths occasionally muck around in the background. It is bad music- not just because it sounds bad, but because so little effort is actually put into composing it. To be fair, 'Atrox Eternus' feels slightly more defined and less random than the two albums the preceded it, making it no longer boring and unpredictable, but instead boring and predictable. The programmed riffs tend to be very simple dissonant tremolo lines of Cradle of Filth goth-aping stuff, neither of which are particularly satisfying, with the occasional diversion into strange chug configurations that similarly go nowhere. Perhaps the biggest offender are the (entirely improvised) vocals, which do nothing but gurgle incoherently over everything else, adding absolutely nothing to the music as a whole.

'Atrox Eternus' is identical in style to any Echoes of Silence album from the same time period and if you put it up against any of the other releases from the project I own I'd be entirely unable to identify it. In its defense, the album does pick up somewhat after its excruciating opening half to approximate extreme mediocrity, but the first few songs are turgid and repetitive enough to make it nearly impossible to get to the end of the disc. Unsurprisingly, like most of the project's work, no one needs this at all.