Eclectika – Lure of Ephemeral Beauty (2012)

After pushing the boundaries of Black Metal with their 2010 release “Dazzling Dawn”, today we have Eclectika and their latest opus “Lure of Ephemeral Beauty”. In this album the band shows that they have settled with a very sharp and aggressive brand of Black Metal with brilliant melodic incursions that greatly set them apart from the rest. For over 10 tracks the band demonstrates that with a bit of creativity, all Post-Black Metal does not have to sound the same.

Opening with a lush symphonic instrumental track, the band sets the expectations really high for their third full-length release. Immediately blasting away with album’s title track, we get a typical Black Metal vibe but with a completely different guitar distortion of what one would expect. This allows the band’s sound to be quite different and very engaging indeed. The harsh vocals make their appearance, but it is the female vocals of Noemie Sirandre that really make this song shine in a very dramatic and operatic way.

If you never heard of this band, you are probably thinking that this is just another vanilla Black Metal band with female vocals, but the unique and energetic sound of Eclectika is far from this, as they show on tracks like “Cyclic Anagnorisis” and the multi-faceted “Room Nineteen”. The guitar work is stellar and very different from what is expected of traditional BM. The band also puts a lot of emphasis on killer slowdowns and weird instrumental passages within their songs.

One of our favorite tracks is the punishing “Sophist's Death: Legacy and Bitter Tears” thanks to its very intense opening and amazing transition into lush operatic singing. The riffing is pretty awesome on this song, allowing it to greatly contrast the beautiful vocal melody. If you like experimental stuff, “Sweet Melancholia” has some funky guitar strumming and church-like keyboards to nicely change the flow of the release. Probably the most straightforward track in this release is “Les Sept Vertus Capitales”, and it is still quite weird compared to normal bands.

Closing the album we have the weird and cavernous “Handicapped Sex In A Mental Orgy”, a very weird title that pretty much sums up how weird this song is. Immediately following it we have a very mellow instrumental that nicely smooth’s out this crazy musical ride. Eclectika has improved tremendously since 2010, and with “Lure of Ephemeral Beauty” the band takes their sound to completely new levels. If you are tired of cookie-cutter Black Metal and Metal in general, be sure to get a copy of this release and be prepared to be weirded out in the best of ways.

Release: November 8th, 2013

Genre: Post Black Metal

Country: France