In the Echoes of All Dreams

Rolo Tomassi

After culminating their three-album trilogy with 2022's Where Myth Becomes Memory as well as coming up on a twenty year anniversary, I was curious to see if this would mark a stylistic turning point for the Sheffield mathcore veterans. With the surprise release of this new EP, titled In the Echoes of All Dreams, it appears that it's just business as usual. This isn't inherently a bad thing as the band's ability to operate on both ferocious and uplifting extremes -- commanded by Eva Kormon's monstrous screams and angelic serenades -- is a fairly unique quality that only they can really deliver. If there's any slight change, I would say the band takes more obvious cues from this recent wave of djent, groove, and industrial metal that is spearheaded by bands like Spiritbox. Tempest and Dead Language are still incredibly heavy, but the music feels more calculated when compared to their chaotic and spontaneous past.

In this shorter format, the band still attempts to create a holistic, full-circle project with the two tracks that bookend the EP. Woodburn introduces disjointed lines and melodies over a gradually building soundscape with distant grinding guitars and beating toms. Rolo Tomassi is known for opening their albums with some form of an intro track, but I'll admit that dedicating a fifth of the project's length for the introduction feels like time that is underutilized. Lyrics and melodies are reprised on Unintended giving the ideas more clarity and significance, however, the enveloping wall of sound propelled by a crashing halftime drum groove is no more climactic than Aftermath or A Flood of Light. The band isn't really breaking new ground or putting a fresh spin on these trademark passages. Overall, I think the EP is decent, but I'm hoping this serves as an addendum as opposed to indicating the band's next phase. They're capable of making music that is more memorable and impactful.