Echidna – Manifests Of Human Existence

Sometimes ourselves are caught by a big surprise from the beginning, when they are about to encounter things and in this case, sounds unfamiliar to the mind.

So, when an album starts with a part that could have been included in the next album of Death, and it also brings you flashbacks and memories of when you started listening to albums like ”Individual Thought Patterns” or ”Symbolic”, then you can surely tell that there’s something special going on with this band. Echidna is a band that has absorbed all main influences from great bands besides Death, being either Atheist, Cynic, even Meshuggah. That’s the reason why their first attempt entitled ”Manifests Of Human Existence” is an album that will stand as a landmark for the whole Greek scene in the future.

From the first moments of ”Whispers”, you are facing a focused attack, made to invade deep inside your brain cells and cast them inactive to do anything but be obedient to the band’s sound. ”Political Sickness in D# Hijaz Kar” makes matters worse, and completes a dynamic duo with which the album enters in the best possible way. The rhythm section crushes bones and skulls, the production is simply amazing and if nobody knew, he would swear it is Steve Digiorgio playing the bass guitar on this recording. We’re dealing with a band that believes in its potential, and the next duo of ”Grieving Silence” and ”Dogma Of Cain” proves this right. Especially in the last, the creepy outro with the successful samples creates a pretty grim atmosphere.

Next is the ”Tractatus Cerebri” trilogy, a demanding track divided into three parts, where the band experiments as much as possible, with ”To Be” being the prelude to the relentless outburst of ”Driven Into”. There, the band can’t hide the Cynic influences, and delivers us the most brutal part of the album after the initial riff, with the blast getting along with the voice of Theo Deligiannidis, who doesn’t seem to ease his aggression for a moment during the 52 minutes the album lasts. ”A Twisted State Of Mind” closes this trilogy and has the role of the outro, preparing the ground for ”The Pendulum”. Heavy riffs, rough and tough drumming and still you can’t stop banging your head from pure surprise and obsession.

The last two songs ”Human Serpent” and ”In Fathomless Depths” reveal the point the band can reach in the future. This is an album made in the present but heading for tomorrow’s aesthetics. It’s a pure death metal album, with amazing performance from all members and with much room for experimentation inside the songs, including movie samples, traditional Greek organs such as the tzouras, speed and mood changing from song to song and in overall, a work that was made with a lot of effort and hard work and is characterized by quality. Especially if you happen to see them live, you will understand how much better the songs work out. They play them for a lot of years, that’s why the result is very solid and convincing.

I really feel great when new bands show signs of being able to drive their music to a high level. You can tell this for Echidna from the first moment. And also, what I believe is that they can do even better in the future, as their sound is rather demanding and they will try to do the best to surpass their debut. For the time being, I suggest you trusted them as much as you can. They won’t let you down and they might make you feel that some of the groups you used to love back in the day, are revived by their music. Chuck Schulidiner may have left us for a better place, but his spirit is still somewhere around and makes people try and give their best, so we will never forget him. He might be smiling up there with this work. The metal flows in the band’s veins. Don’t miss them!

Website: www.echidna-band.com

Aggelos “Redneck” Katsouras.