E³

I came across this formation about 15 years ago on a metal blog, had no idea who they were or what style they played, but since they were on this blog, they had to play some kind of metal… and metal it was, quite impressive at that on the debut, a potent complex mix of thrash and death, strictly classic, with some pretty mature musicianship on display. The sophomore was a huge disappointment, though, as the guys had decided to go with the flow, acquiring a heavy modern groovy sound that was as trite and unappealing as anything similarly-styled out there.

Then the guys took a very low profile without splitting up, with the band founder, the drummer Louis Levesque, resurfacing at the beginning of the new millennium to give a hand to none other than Eric Forrest (Voivod); yeah, that same one who needed like-minded musicians for his new project E-Force. This was only a one-album stint (the debut), though, as the man was back to the underground, but not before he had convinced the guitar player from the E-Force collaboration Dan Lauzon to join the Entropy camp.

However, it took quite a few years before the guys came up with something which happened to be the album reviewed here. Another “Ashen Existence” would have been just great, and the opening "Means to the End" indeed comes close to the magnanimity of this opus, a sharp dramatic retro thrasher which remains the highlight as afterwards the guys try to please a wider gamut of fans with the abrasive modern jumper “Premonition”, the more dynamic but still pretty vociferous, sophomore-bound “Bloodrites”, and the psychedelic bouncer “Succubus”, a sure leftover from the E-Force recording sessions. More classic drama comes pouring on “Nightmare Extraordinaire”, a more intense shredder with intriguing galloping developments, but those don’t receive the requisite support from the Pantera and Machine Head worship “Encryption”, the over-ambitious but ultimately flawed 11-min saga “Darkness Eclipsed” not improving the setting by much, spending most of the time in dubious balladisms with infrequent faster-paced additives.

Although this showing sounds more convincing than the ultimately banal aggro-prone sophomore, it can’t hold a candle to the debut from both a compositional and structural aspect as the approach is scattered all over the place the band trying to produce a combination between their two previous instalments to mixed results. The harsh but effective quarrelsome shouty vocals, the same ones heard on the two previous efforts, get the job done to aggravate the tension the man adding more pacifying, lyrical antics on the few balladic/semi-balladic sections. The balance between the old and the new school hasn’t been achieved that well the scales tipped more towards the groovy/proto-groovy side which can hardly be considered a plus in the midst of the old school revival campaign.

That’s alright, the guys will be back, with a new e4oteric formula, one that will show both old and new practitioners how to do the complex thrashy/deathy twist… I’m sure the band still have it in them; they don’t need an E or a G-Force to boost them for greater deeds. It will all come nicely together with a pinch of old school ash.