Æpoch offers Hiraeth, a new EP.
Created in 2012 in Canada, the band now composed of Brett MacIntosh (bass/vocals), Greg Carvalho (drums, ex-Becomes Astral), Marcus Arar (guitar) and Nicholas Luck (guitar, Existential Dissipation, Skyless Aeons) already released an album in 2018, as well as two EPs and a split.
The album begins with the violent technicality of Atonement, a short instrumental track that allows the band to place the basis of their quite melodic style before Amnesia. Vocals appear, strengthening the track’s heaviness or adding an aggressive aspect to vivid riffs supported by a rhythmic with fretless bass. Some more airy tones join the composition, then Overwrought reconnects with those sharp harmonics and this visceral technicality supported by a catchy groove for a short song, before The Flesh Totem crushes us again. Piercing leads are still part of this explosive and sometimes heady melting, then Hiraeth, the last song, comes to complete this panel of mid-melodic, mid-aggressive sonorities with fast and hooking riffs.
With this new EP, Æpoch confirm their musical stances. Hiraeth is short, but it allows the band to unveil some strong and interesting riffs while creating a violent and technical sound universe.
85/100