Beneath – “Ephemeris” Album Review by R.G.B. Robb

Beneath—“Ephemeris” Unique Leader Records; 08/18/17— Though there are a number of geographical locations that have become synonymous with death metal—the first wave was Florida, then South America, and the last decade or so has been Sweden—Iceland had never previously had a band to lay claim to their own distinct feel to this sub-genre of metal, but with the album Ephemeris, Beneath has changed all of that. Though their music has the utter technical brutality of Anata, mixed with the incredibly complex time signatures and percussive style of play found in Meshuggah, and the arpeggiated riffing associated with Cannabis Corpse added, it’s the way they combine these elements with a progressive bent that makes you realize you are listening to something special and unique. Yes, you’re going to get chugging riffs that toss in blast-beats on occasion. And yes, you’re going to get the guttural vocals that make it sound as though Satan is swallowing the microphone while waxing poetic on a loose concept of lyrics—lyrics about forthcoming millenniums of the colonization of galaxies by human induced technology. But when you dig a little deeper—especially on both the title track and “Eyecatcher”—they are able to take these standards of extreme music and turn them on their ear with frenetically performed minor into major into augmented progressions that also take any semblance of “standard” time signatures and throw them out the window. This is one of those albums that you will either immediately love or hate. It will either inspire you to see where the future of death metal can go, or it will make you think that it’s an album designed to show off nothing more than technical play. Either way, I can promise that it’s an album that WILL make you feel SOMETHING.—R.G.B. Robb