Altar of Eris photo by Dylan-Miller
Here is something black, pitch-black, demanding the senses to focus on it my friends as the joys of life simply disappear in this album, an utterly artistic piece of darkwave in its darker shade…Emerging from the abyss, postpunk/darkwave outfit Altar of Eris present the ‘Isolation’ EP’ which is their sophomore release, and here they lend listeners a glimpse into their own dark and raw musical reality. The whole record is like a spiral descend into the band’s apocalyptic candour, a really tough and a difficult audition which hides tremendous musings and way more, the singer’s vocals like thrusting nails to the (known) world.
If I told you that the best way to listen to the ‘Isolation’ EP is from the last track and back? If I told you that I am proposing a mesmerizing game to you? If I told you that it is better to start with the last dish rather than with the starter? If I told you that I am sort of protecting you from the hex? If I leave you alone to listen to this album from start to finish then you may find some pretty shocking and depressive elements in it so it is better to start with the shock and then go back to the start where things are slightly more…polite. But do as you wish, it’s your sanity not mine that I lost during the audition…
Altar Of Eris is not another “cool” band with a “cool” album. They are among the modern epitome darkwave outfits without shame. Blending their darkness with flashes (indeed) of post-punk and darkwave they are playing dangerous games as they dig it all harder to the infinite deathrock realm that is all over the album, but never there, never in the face, never like grooving with terrors but these terrors rushing behind them, or more hideous, like the deathrock school of fine arts is throwing its morbid applaud on Altar Of Eris‘ achievements. I’ll be nice and I’ll be gentle as I want you to remember first what happened with ‘Cemetery Burns’ from last January’s debut album ‘The Table Of Discord’…yes, yes, two records in the first 5 months of the year, a pretty thunderous occasion isn’t that?
Now, why don’t you try the closing track from the ‘Isolation’ EP, “Your Ghost”…? Sounds like the best track to close an album, right? Creepy, mid-tempo, and menacing. Try now either to start listening to the record with the opener “Three-fold” or with track number 5 which is “Someone Else” and let your tricky mind alone to make any comparisons, please. And now let’s go to “Violent Dreams” for extra pressure in this haunted lament, this masterpiece-song! How are you, still breathing, still here? Nice, now come with me to the “Labyrinth Of Tears” to enjoy a pale groove of sorrows with the singer like commanding the lyrics over this funeral…this darkwave song will destroy you! And here we are to “Transmigration” which is track number 2 and we are ready to breathe some air again, or I thought so as the band here truly and tricksy unveil the most deathrocky tune of the album, and if you’ll hear any angular and torn apart guitar-work, let me know! Deathrock according to Altar Of Eris is a state of mind or better, deathrock is a whole different narrating cosmos and they keep it true!
Well, that was it my dears and if you wanna take your chances to listen to the ‘Isolation’ EP as it is presented in the record, I rest my case and it’s your soul to do whatever you wanna do with it…
“I feel we have created something immersive while opening a door into the void. The music we create is rooted in themes of trauma, grief, heartbreak, philosophy, and the occult with the intent of cathartically exploring life and music through a lens of self-loathing and existential dread”, says Brandon Bannister (guitar, drums and band relations).
As for the rest of the cult, Travis Stanley (vocals, synth, lyrics, drums, and social media), Nick Trimmer (bass, drums, and production) they ‘said it all’ in the album which is now available everywhere, including Spotify, but It can already be ordered via Bandcamp. The ‘Isolation’ EP is a true DIY project. In addition to writing and performing the music featured here, the band members in Altar of Eris handled the recording, mixing, and mastering themselves at their home studio in Seattle, while Nick Trimmer produced the EP.
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Written by LoudCities’ Mike
Altar of Eris photo by Dylan Miller
