Epitimia     

Faces Of Insanity

Hypnotic Dirge Records 2012

Black doom sweeping across your eardrums with strokes of forlorn atmosphere draws you under like the icy waters of the windswept sea.  Those are the images and feelings that I am immersed in as a drink in fully the new album from Russia's Epitimia.  A late night chill lingers in the air over the stark instrumentation of Reminiscentia.  A solitary guitar melody and tormented shrieks work in unison to create a desolate, nostalgic feeling within the listener.  The guitars pick up and a subtle nod to Katatonia can be discerned.   Beautiful and fragile guitar lines summon comparisons to the sorrowful moods of The Cure on Epikrisis I: Altered State of Consciousness.  Gravelly vocals scrape across the texture of the song and become more intense as the pace quickens and full on black metal passages conjure the darkness within the listener. Epikrisis III: Megalomania has a very similar riffing pattern to the style created on Katatonia's Brave Murder Day.  The track then drifts into a period of trilling guitar that drops out in a bass guitar that wallows in life's futility before picking back up on the main riff line of the song.  As the album gets deeper into is full playing time, the Russian lyrics become more pronounced as is evidenced on Epikrisis IV: Jamais Vu.  A laid back, trippy vibe gets your toes tapping on the jazzy Epikrisis V Rorschach Inkblot.  More ghostly, trilling guitar passes like a shadow before the track lifts into slowly swaying black metal riffs.  DS: Schizophrenia begins with beautiful guitar plinking that instantly brings to mind parts of Tiamat's Wildhoney album.  A fever induced deathly riff arises from this calm abyss to paint the song like a nightmare.  The bursts of layered vocals and laughter add to the sense of dementia.  If your heart seeks comfort in sorrow and gloom then you need to wrap it within the folds of Faces Of Insanity.