December 9, 2005
After a few attempts at pronouncing their name, we plonked ourselves at the front with a pint and watched Aplengluhen kick this launch party off with a bit of balls. The simplicity of the rhythm guitar, with its high-pitched, electro sound contrasted brilliantly with the dirty-ass distortion of the lead, bringing in an almost industrial edge to a gutsy brand of nu-metal. Plenty of unexpected, but never unwelcome tempo changes really showed off their dynamic ability and imagination, injecting roaring speed and emotion at times, while maintaining an epic power in the slower sections. They kept the vocal patterns interesting and although the vocals were very prominant in the sound, some backing at choice moments would have capitalised on this and really pushed the power of the choruses. They played a very short set, with four songs all ending quite abruptly, like they were unsure of how to finish them. This was a good start though and with just a little bit more adventure and a few tighter screws they could be something pretty exciting and quite refreshing on the local metal scene.
So, it's their party and they'll rock if they want to, Epoche have certainly come to do no other such thing. Coming back from a long break and with an asured confidence in their new line-up, they waste no time and plough head-long into their set, letting dirty grunge riffs spew from both guitars. An Americana hard rock edge peeks through in the clean sections with the dark, complex basslines woven subtly into the sound. They switched dyanmics very well, breraking down and building back up with huge kicks of energy. The vocals had a very Tool-esque quality in terms of emphasis and the lyrics we could make out were pretty impressive, but the Eddy Vedder cloak over the frontman's voice impared the clarity. At times the set seemed to lose momentum and a lack of definition between the individual tracks, however, the title track from their demo The Lust For Odessa really stood out and proved to be a fantastic end to their launch party.
Reviewed by Gaz
Written By Gaz
