Ethos: An Eye For An Eye

Seven years have passed since Ethos offered us Shade And Soil, a full length album that showed promise while still revealing a few rough edges that could do with something of a smooth down. Impressively given the lengthy lay-off, it’s the same quintet who now live by the motto An Eye For An Eye as they deliver a quick fire five track EP that just nudges past the 20 minute mark.

There was a lot to like about this outfit’s previous release, the caveat that Shade And Soil came with - for me anyway - was that the vocals were…idiosyncratic. Possibly the desire to stand out and not follow the crowd leading singer Austin Earp (who also handled many others aspects within the band) into slightly unsure territory. However, right from the off here Earp’s expressive and expansive singing proves a strength, often employing a rasp and near growling howl, he still somehow reminds of Matt Bellamy of Muse in the clean sections, and whether holding the melody in place or threatening with his attack, now he’s evolved into a really interesting focal point. With his duties on this outing paired back to vocals and keys, the rest of the band - Kuyper Cummings and Matt Palopoli on guitars, Nick Riggs on bass and Tribb Robinson on drums - prove a mighty tight and forceful unit.

“Begin With The End� opens, the discordant scales and riffs reminding of Opeth with a more ‘modern’ singer, before “Holy Water� lands somewhere between post-rock, metal and the kind of unhinged NWOBHM Hell served up for a couple of albums. From there the next 3 tracks make up parts IV, V and VI of “The Archetype Suite�, which began its tale on Shade And Soil. “Stars Align� pulsates with a cool riff, insistent nature and yet still possesses a certain guile, while “The Caudal Lure� is more of a clean interlude in the style that you might have found on Opeth’s Damnation album - all mood, atmosphere and foreboding. Which leaves “A New Regime� to close things out with slamming guitars, hammering drums and bulging bass, which all counterpoint off some of the more Muse like progressive leanings to be found on this effort.

While I enjoyed Shade And Soil, I’m pleased to say that not only does An Eye For An Eye lay to rest some of the slightly less convincing aspects of the Ethos attack, it truly is quite a big step up for this outfit. Hopefully the next thing we hear from them is a full length outing that matches these high standards and hopefully it won’t take another seven years to arrive.

Track Listing
1. Begin With The End
2. Holy Water
3. The Archetype Suite IV. Stars Align
4. The Archetype Suite V. The Caudal Lure
5. The Archetype Suite VI. New Regime

Added: July 8th 2024
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Ethos @ bandcamp
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Language: english

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