Ethereal Collapse – Breaching The Citadel (2006)

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When I first received this band’s ‘promo’ package with a burned CD-R and a hand written information sheet, I was about to discard this release instantly since I have not received something like this in several years. However I decided to play the CD on my car on the way to a party one night and I was blown away because of what I heard.

I was almost not able to get out of the car in order to finish listening to the brilliant mix of Melodic Death Metal and Trash Metal that this band has managed to put on their first full-length album. The music was that good, since it’s a perfect balance of both genres and it’s completely unpredictable.

The guitar riffing feels very much like the late 90’s Melodic DM that I enjoy listening to on a daily basis. Ethereal Collapse’s music features no cheesy modern Melo-death crap or the even worse Metalcore crap that plenty of bands are playing these days, the band relies on solid Trash and Melodic DM foundations.

The guitar solos and the drumming are my favorite two things of this album. The solos just keep going endlessly in some songs, their lead guitar player is very good and he is not shy about showing off. The drumming is very tight and marks the tempos perfectly, too bad that the recording sounds a bit hissy, but otherwise they are pretty good for a self released album.

The only weak point of this release is the vocals since they constantly vary from some growls, to screams and even some clean vocals that I will pretend I never heard in this otherwise pretty good album. I think if the band manages to select one style and stick to it, the music will do all the work and the vocals will just be a complementary element.

Overall “Breaching The Citadel” is a great first release by a very promising band. The music is excellent and it showcases the great musical abilities of the band members, it also shows that they have talent for writing good songs. If you like real Melodic DM you should try to get this album from the band’s myspace, also check out their hilarious video of the song “As the Mighty Fall”.

Band: Ethereal Collapse Album: Breaching The Citadel
Label: Self Released

Release: 2006

Official Site myspace
Genre: Melodic Death/Thrash Metal

Country: USA

Rating: 91/100
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