One man band and artist Eski returns with a pretty phenomenal record to kick off the new year. Treacherous is a collection of insanely heavy and energetic metal tracks that effectively block out anything else around you for the entire time that you’re listening – the level of escapism is fierce.
Opening segment The Silent Inquisition exposes a theatrical and explicitly dark angle to the project, and title track Treacherous follows this up by throttling any sense of quiet in an instant. This first full length track brings about the vibe and attitude of the EP with intense energy and volume – the riffs are quick and manic, the vocal performance expresses a similar sentiment, and all the while that leading guitar melody winds its way into your mind without a second thought. As does the repetition of the leading hook.
Fear is of a similar heaviness to the previous track, though there’s a notable existence of space here – the instrumental interludes, as it were, the whispers, the evolution of the vocal rhythm. This feeling of theatre returns and there’s a sense of storytelling to the track, there’s a development that occurs and pulls you along as the music moves forwards, and the energy is so intense that everything passes on to you accordingly as the track plays – not to mention a subtle tip of the hat to the infamous Joker.
Fear comes to a close with a superbly stylish yet terrifying vocal growl, a brief moment of a Capella no less, that will leave you appropriately shaken. It’s one of those moments that only a real instance of emotion can create – a one off recording of a sound soaked in a certain something that represents and highlights the feeling behind the track with striking relevancy. It’s an incredible snippet of real, raw, artistic expression, and it comes with a genuine wave of fear that successfully backs up the whole essence of the track. Fortunately, The Killage offers a brief moment of gentle guitar ambiance to ease you back into the music.
The Killage has a lengthy chorus section that is rhythmically memorable, and the music itself continues to present this ambiance alongside the manic energy and the distortion. It’s a really effective combination of elements, and the track undeniably has something special about it that creates a very diverse set of images and feelings as it plays. The lyrics are a little more bare sounding at times, you get a sense of the back story more intensely than before, the darkness is laid in full view, and the mood is reinforced with this creative and theatrical musical backdrop that grows and evolves at every turn.
Disenchantment reclaims the high energy and volume of the EP’s opening track – the riffs are fast and powerful, the vocal performance and added snippets of angst and attitude add a whole lot to intensify the effect. However, once again, Eski’s crisp and smooth finish to these intense and heavy metal tracks brings about a superb feeling of completeness, and with this an unusual sense of calm. The music of Disenchantment has a hypnotic presentation to it; this simple guitar riff, featuring just a few different notes, gets wrapped around your mind and lets you really lose yourself to the sound.
The attitude of the song is all at once heavy and mellow – the guitar riff that starts things up has a rock and roll melody about it, and the vibe created by the track on the whole is dark and reflective, though the vocal performance has a whispered sort of growl for the most part, and this lets you get pretty close to the essence of the songwriting and the sound, which is an impressive effect. The rhythm of the vocal performance is very distinct as well, as is the case with the majority of the Treacherous EP. You leave this one knowing you’d recognise it again in an instant.
Closing track Our Darkest Shadows (Feat. Kakophonix) takes things in a vastly different direction. The music in this case fuses the darkness and energy of death metal with the organic and melodic sound of what comes across as somewhere between big-band, indie, and circus-rock. The backdrop features an array of instruments that come as quite a surprise at this point in the release, though the heart of the track is perfectly in keeping with everything experienced in the collection so far. There’s a slightly disjointed and haunting ambiance created by these two worlds colliding for this final track, and it’s massively attention grabbing and undeniably memorable to experience. Often collaboration is the key to the depths of our creative abilities, and in this case something hugely mesmerizing has come about.
The project leaves it’s mark on you in a number of ways, the most effective of which is, once again, the inclination to listen more than once to really take it all in. The riff’s on the EP are brilliant, the energy of the project is perhaps the main thing, but the heaviness also has a striking sense of style to it, and that’s something quite rare in modern and independent rock and metal.
Download the EP today via Bandcamp or iTunes. Find and follow In Silent Agony on Facebook, Twitter and Soundcloud, and visit the artist’s Website for more information. You can also check out our review of the EP Villainous from last September.
