{"id":30388,"date":"2015-06-02T00:00:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-02T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=30388"},"modified":"2015-06-03T21:00:27","modified_gmt":"2015-06-03T21:00:27","slug":"album-review-encyrcle-encyrcle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-encyrcle-encyrcle\/","title":{"rendered":"ENCYRCLE – ENCYRCLE (2015) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ENCYRCLE
Encyrcle<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nUnspeakable Axe (2015)<\/span>
Rating: 6.5\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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These Danish guys formed in 2012, and so I\u2019m glad that \u2013 unlike some bands \u2013 it\u2019s taken them a while to release their debut platter, one that will no doubt appeal to the current fan who revels in revival metal. <\/p>\n

To put simply, Encyrcle offers up a speedy dose of mid-80s metal which if released back then most probably wouldn\u2019t have turned many heads. But of course, in the modern climate, this sort of old school homage is very much the order of the day.<\/p>\n

After a short intro (\u2018Chronoboros\u2019), we get pulverised by the hasty \u2018To The End\u2019, which in reality is a rather sub-standard speed metal and traditional metal combination that comes out of its corner like a frisky yet na\u00efve young boxer only able to offer basic punch combinations. It\u2019s nice on the ear musically, although the vocals have a strange sort of warble about them. The track only really benefits when the voice is cranked up to a higher pitch, but it\u2019s still the sort of formulaic revival metal we\u2019ve become accustomed to over the last decade. <\/p>\n

Having recently heard the latest Enforcer album (2015\u2019s From Beyond<\/em><\/a>), I\u2019d suggest hopping over to the Swedish camp instead of listening to this, because they\u2019ll show you how new old school metal should be played. If you find a day where you want something rather simple and na\u00efve however, then maybe you\u2019ll find something of value within this 11-track opus. <\/p>\n

For me, a majority of the tracks would have benefited from being shorter. The aforementioned \u2018To The End\u2019 is a prime example, which becomes rather dull and predictable \u2013 as does \u2018Evoke The Night\u2019, although this offers up more of a mid-tempo traipse. The riffs are nice, although the general sound is hardly the \u201cnocturnal speed metal\u201d<\/em> the outfit speaks of in the official press release. Again the vocals try to command, but don\u2019t sit comfortable with me. <\/p>\n

\u2018Bloodbasker\u2019 comes out of the traps like a wounded greyhound not quite sure where it\u2019s heading, but carries on sprinting anyway. Again, the music is of worth with some nice percussive pattern shifts, but once the track begins to gallop, you may as well throw this in the bin that holds so many modern bands of this ilk. <\/p>\n

The promotional sheet for this album comments that, \u201cDespite having strong roots in the old school of metal, the band thrusts a knife deep into the heart of conservative genre expectations and freely rides its own wave\u201d<\/em>, but I\u2019m rarely hearing anything here that will separate Encyrcle from the hordes. Okay, so \u2018En Trance\u2019 suddenly offers some hope as a doom-laden mid-tempo march, only for the listener to discover that it\u2019s a mere one-minute instrumental that leads into the furious but formulaic \u2018Dizzy Me Deadly\u2019, which will surely go down as being one of the worst song titles of all time. Even so, it does showcase the talents of the guitarists, but you know as soon as the vocals come crashing in that we\u2019re going to be back at square one with another tepid mid-80s imitation. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hardly speed metal, but more a case of traditional yet weak metal that doesn\u2019t really know which path to take due to lack of ideas, and more the fool any band to mention \u201c666\u201d<\/em> alongside \u201cDizzy Me Deadly\u201d<\/em> and try to make it work. <\/p>\n

For the rest of the opus, we get a hint of hope with \u2018Serpent\u2019s Dream\u2019, only again to discover that this Gothic, piano-led track is another short instrumental. Nevertheless, it does lead to the half-decent \u2018Deathlust\u2019 which builds in steady, suspenseful fashion, and again benefits for most of its duration by not featuring a vocal. Again however, as soon as those warbles enter the arena it\u2019s back to type, but the track does suggest the band can muster up a good racket. <\/p>\n

\u2018Facelasher\u2019 is another raging albeit cluttered metallic frenzy of power metal nuances, while the eight-minute \u2018Black Dust\u2019 is just way, way too long and too tiring on the ears and lacking any sort of epic nature one would expect from such a lengthy outing. Finally, album closer \u2018Obliteration Eyes\u2019 is another predictable fizzing rocker with the expected mid-tempo whines and then reverting back to galloping type. <\/p>\n

And so Encyrcle\u2019s debut offering comes to end, and it\u2019s one with sprigs of promise but all too lacking in ideas. While the combo is clearly enthusiastic and passionate about bringing back that 80s steel, the record will always remain an inferior and distant relative to its peers.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ENCYRCLEEncyrcle Unspeakable Axe (2015)Rating: 6.5\/10 These Danish guys formed in 2012, and so I\u2019m glad that \u2013 unlike some bands \u2013 it\u2019s taken them a while to release their debut platter, one that will no doubt appeal to the current fan who revels in revival metal. To put simply, Encyrcle offers up a speedy dose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,2135],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-encyrcle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30388"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30393,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30388\/revisions\/30393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}