The Immortal Kind
(self-financed)
26:57min
About three years ago Florida’s blackened Death Metal horde EQUINOX used to put out the very cool "Journey Into Oblivion" record via Polish Still Dead Productions… At that time the future for the band seemed very bright as the label was treating EQUINOX very well, giving them top priority. But all of a sudden, label owner Julius disappeared from the face of the earth (just like several times before already), which ended up being a major setback for all of the acts on the Still Dead roster. Due to this, a planned EQUINOX compilation CD of all of their coversongs / promo recordings never materialized and the release of brandnew material got delayed more and more… No surprise that during that difficult time the band’s line-up started to change quite a bit, but it seems in the meantime they’ve found two very talented replacements in Gabriel Lewandowski (ACHERON, HELLWITCH) and Nate Lawres (ARUSPEX, WARBUTCHER) on drums and rhythm guitar / keyboards respectively. So, in October 2005 EQUINOX were finally ready to enter Diet of Worms Studio (MORBID ANGEL, DIABOLIC, UNHOLY GHOST) in Tampa, Florida with Juan "Punchy" Gonzales engineering to record what was to become this mini-album here. And the result is definitely worth the long wait, believe me! The opening track ‘Wretched And Nameless’ has a very strong overall DIMMU BORGIR feel to it (with its sinister moody atmosphere and demonic vocal delivery), even though it is generally way more rooted in traditional Metal (just listen to the amazing guitarwork) and particularely "Don’t Break The Oath"-era MERCYFUL FATE (for its complexity and how they have used the keyboards in here). The title track, ‘The Immortal Kind’, recalls Pete Slate’s former band ACHERON for its rather midpaced to doomy riffing and Matt’s evoking singing style, while the doublebass driven ‘Night Of The Churchyard Watcher’ seems to be a hommage to early DEATH ("Leprosy"-era) with some heavy MASSACRE riffs thrown in in the middle section. The entire record convinces in terms of incredible variety (like I already mentioned, very much rooted in traditional Metal, but with lots of twists and turns in various, more brutal directions), offers very skilled musicianship and a crushing production and without a single doubt features EQUINOX’s best material to date! Ok, I personally could easily have lived without the disc’s closing cut ‘The 6th Day’, which is basically just a drum solo and (despite Gabriel’s obvious drumming qualities) rather superfluous. But all in all this is an amazing release that is hopefully gonna secure them a new record deal with a more established company pretty soon. It’s about time that EQUINOX finally get the attention they deserve for so long already! For all further info and serious contract offers head to www.equinoxmetal.com.
Frank Stöver
• EQUINOX - Journey Into Oblivion (Will “Bones” Lee)
• EQUINOX - As The Moon Swallows The Sun (Frank Stöver)
• EQUINOX - Journey Into Oblivion (Frank Stöver)
• EQUINOX - Interview (Olivier "Zoltar" Badin)
• EQUINOX - Interview (Frank Stöver)