Chac Och-Ut

I was impressed with Epoch of the Fifth Sun (despite its flaws) enough to shell out another 12 bucks for Tenochtitlan’s second album of ethnic influenced doom metal, and let me first say that this is by far much closer to doom metal than their last one. Once again, we get the usual lyric themes in Russian and various tribal languages, as well as the usual ethnic based atmosphere, so I’m sure you’re asking yourself; "what exactly makes this album any different from Epoch of the Fifth Sun?" Well, more or less they just put more effort into this and put more emphasis on mostly everything I mentioned was wrong or missing in my review of Epoch of the Fifth Sun.

For starters, someone actually cared enough to write some decent guitar riffs. Senmuth actually plays some doom riffs even. Unfortunately, they are just generic stuff, standard base lines and what have you. Unlike in their previous album, guitars can be present on just about every track (or you can at least hear them anyway) so nothing really becomes too ambient.

The vocal department has also gotten a much needed adjustment; Lefthander gets a chance to grunt more often than on Epoch. Eresh has also changed his style so his vocals are harsh but not full blown death metal vocals, so he is used in situations where the band wishes to get a point across that is violent yet understandable (pending you speak the language). He also backs up Lefthander every now and then. Senmuth’s chanting doesn’t sound as nasally as before, so it actually helps you fall into the atmosphere instead of ruining it for you.

Unlike the last album the keyboards weren’t overproduced. They paced themselves this time around, so anybody can listen to this and still see the basic building blocks of any metal album but at the same time be sucked into the atmosphere of the band’s sound.

The atmosphere is still important here but yet isn’t overdone. The use of samples is new; they added in things like wind and rain to simulate mood. Adding to this is Eresh who churns out some pretty melodic flute passages, not overly high pitched but not too low either.

I am still saddened that they couldn’t find anyone to record the drum parts, so once again I assume they're using a machine. The tribal drums are nice, but I still wish that there was someone back there on a drum kit to really put the final touches on this. I guess in order to correct this they still try to drown out the drums with the keyboard melodies, even though not to as much of an extent as before it’s still there.

In closing, I must say that is a much needed improvement of Epoch of the Fifth Sun. The band added much more metal into what made them unique the first time around, which made this release very well rounded. If you are looking for a good place to get started with this band, this is probably your best choice.