EPISODE 13 : PITCH BLACK
Raven Records
Turkey’s Episode 13 created a highly professional piece of work with 2005’s “Tabula Rasa”, an epic and semi-symphonic black metal outing which drew on the work of second wave black metal acts, and explored various historical and heathen concepts. It was definitely a more-than-satisfactory album, catchy and melodic, but it is going to be seriously overshadowed by this five piece’s sophomore effort; “Pitch Black” blows their previous efforts clear out of the water.
Having stated an intention to be more true to their core musical vision as their abilities evolved, it’s clear that “Pitch Black” represents something of a reinvention for Episode 13. Gone are the keyboards, which, while they were a well-balanced element of “Tabula Rasa”, leant a certain softness to the tracks. In their place are very much honed and practiced guitar lines, sharp, pummelling and with a tightness and urgency borrowed more from death metal. A superior production job this time around only adds to the slicker, more determined feel of the album, and a lot of effort has been taken to ensure the listener is genuinely engaged with the music- in short, there’s plenty of potential for headbanging.
An early stand-out composition is the title track, which begins with a deep sense of almost industrial atmosphere before launching into a salvo of catchy, slick guitar work, vicious, cool and swaggering. A haunting, reverberating lead later on in the track shows that Episode 13 can still do big sounds without the keys; it’s a lot more subtle than their earlier work, possessed of a weird, metallic kind of beauty. “Hate Universe” is classy too, with some menacing harmonics and a rollicking death metal roll keeping things full of shred and stomp. The lyrics are more confrontational and traditional than on “Tabula Rasa”, but this suits the darker, more brutal sound. They are delivered in a hoarse howl by stand-in vocalist Tolgahan, who does a good job in being sinister but not over-the-top.
The nine tracks on offer here do tend to follow a similar pattern, and if anything a little bit more variation could have livened up the album even more. However, there are plenty of stellar moments to keep your attention, and with frontman Ozan Akyol now back in the fold, there’s no doubt Episode 13 will be firing on all cylinders from now on. They’ve certainly mastered this mixed, blackened death style, and are all the more threatening and aggressive for it. An excellent step-up from a band with bucketloads of prospects.
77/100
