This 5 track offering from Epoche begins with 'Still Here', the question is will we still be here after listening to this EP? rn rnIt starts with quite an interesting and experimental heavy grunge riff and from the very start of this song it is obvious that Epoche aren't afraid to let their music roam around and move in different directions. The distortion on the guitar is really dirty and contrasts well with the moments of clean guitar. The drums are quite interesting too, with some clever beats and fills and the bass adds a slugish boom to keep the lo-fi grunge feel. The vocalist has a fairly nice growl to his voice and this first track certainly has some great dynamics and changes even though it maybe went on a bit too long.rn Track 2 'Space' certainly went on too long and after a weird indie-rock intro, which sounded oddly like Muse, it became a epic 8 minute soft grunge ballad which got a little repeatative. Once again though, it showed some interesting changes and the final outro was cool with some very nice guitar work. rnSuddenly Epoche become more of a American stadium rock band as the vocalist swaps his grunge/indie style for a more Eddy Vedder grunt. 'Imagination' however, moves well. This third track also has great lyrics and a really catchy hookline, aswell as an interesting middle eight breakdown, this is certainly the most memorable song on this EP. rn'The Ends Meet' returns to more of a indie/grunge feel with softer vocals and a more eerie guitar riff that flickers in and out of the sound to good effect. The drums are quite dominant in this track and have some interesting fills but the vocals start to whine a little and I didn't really feel this song build very well, yet the breakdown on the guitar was really impressive in the middle. rnFinal track 'The Lust For The Odessa' starts with a really interesting guitar riff and has a really nice funky bass line. It is quite hard to label Epoche's sound with grunge and metal influences coming through aswell as a more hard rock edge. The music is certainly interesting and not afraid to experiment with changes, dynamics and style, the one thing that I felt didn't quite work at times was the vocals, as even though it had a good hard edge with plenty of power for most of the songs, the vocalist's style seemed to change too often and it lacked personality of its own and didn't always have conviction in his voice. rnWith such a willingness to write interesting yet catchy guitar and bass riffs though, and with the powerful drums managing to change the emotion and feel of their songs so well, if the vocalist can get more of an original edge to his voice this band could really have a nice niche to fill.rn
Reviewed by: Gaz
Label: sfsaf
