First contact with Noumenia.
Hailing from northern Italy, Vivian Nigro (vocals), Matteo Campagnoli (bass), Matteo Radaelli (guitar) and Samuele Zichi (drums) – accompanied by producer Richard Meiz (Lacuna Coil, Genus Ordinis Dei) and sound engineer Daniele Salomone (Lacuna Coil, Inverno) – unveil their debut album Echoes with support from Eclipse Records.
Blind Idols start the album with a touch of sweetness, but soon the Post/Groove Metal mix arrives and assaults us with a catchy sound joined by savage vociferations. Although the riffs are fairly simple, they remain effective, calming down on the choruses while remaining heavy, before moving on to The Circle, a shorter and consequently more direct composition with more present vocal parts, but also more diversified, some murmurs mingling with screams. Outsider slightly speeds the tempo up but offers brighter touches and some clear backing vocals, while Fractures injects a rather melancholy dimension to its jerky riffs. The contrast is interesting, allowing the band to exploit its Post roots and its heavy ambience, as on Fall Apart, which allows us a moment of floating before confronting us with its rhythm that incorporates an almost perfect balance between clear and saturated vocals. Black Ocean returns to a livelier, more aggressive dynamic, retaining the steamy notes on its slower choruses and reserving its hardcore-tinged patterns for the verses, then it’s with rather chaotic harmonics that Outbreak takes over, revealing a rhythm perfect for live performance and calling for virulent revolt. We continue with Firewall which develops a rather similar sound to the previous track, embellishing its choruses with a few interesting melodies and orchestrations, as well as a rather soaring solo, then Digital Aftermath presents us with modern touches, first soft, then much more imposing, and finally again rather bleak. The track remains very intoxicating, but will eventually give way to the anguished Under the Veil, the last track which remains fairly calm in a dark Post vein with a few slightly more disturbing passages, but which will end up choking once and for all.
Echoes is Noumenia‘s first big step in the Metal scene, with a catchy, modern mix that’s just as capable of being slow and oppressive as it is energetic and perfectly suited to feeding the rage of their audience.
80/100
