EPSILON – From This Pain

This is the second release from this five piece band that hails from Austria and is currently without a record deal. Epsilon’s maiden release was in the form of an EP, had the title Simple Life and saw the light of the day in 2006.

The band moves around the Thrash territory through the modern looking glass with distinct Gothenburg sound finishing touches. In their influences list, bands like Sepultura (late), Machine Head and of course – one of the leading bands in the Swedish Metal scene – In Flames can be found. From This Pain could be considered a demo-like release due to the rather raw production that in general is not raising specific complaints.

“From This Pain” opens the EP and the main guitar riff is the first thing the listener notices. It is catchy and quite melodic following the aforementioned Swedish Metal pattern while the solid rhythm section and the natural harmonics pay the proper respect to Machine Head offering some good headbanging time (especially in the mid tempo part). The vocals are monotonous comprised mainly of deep growls with some cleaner breaks here and there.

“Cultures Collide” comes next, and in some extent approaches the mainstream sound of the Metalcore scene. This is mainly due to the trademark jumping-up-and-down groove and the fitting ‘spoken-like’ lyrics. Music-wise, the track is nothing special and does nothing to differentiate Epsilon from the huge pile of bands that play similar music.

“As The Sea” steps on the gas pedal and clearly justifies the term ‘Thrash’ on the band’s musical description. Once again, the guitars are the best thing here; the fast leads, the double guitars and the groovy breaks are the strongest elements in Epsilon’s music. The EP closes with the live recorded version of the opening track and judging by its quality this was done just to add another song to the tracklist. The sound production is primitive and quite muffled leaving absolutely no space to listen to what is going on and thus, no further commenting is possible.

So, apart from some interesting guitar parts, From This Pain can be marked as a mediocre release. The lack of a more personal sound and a clear artistic direction (Thrash or Metalcore) leaves the band somewhere in between and by this it cannot appeal to new fans. Maybe the debut full length release will have something more to say from Metal Express Radio. Until then you can check the band’s official MySpace page and listen for yourself what is going on with Epsilon (the name stands for the Greek letter ‘e’).