Ea - Ea (CD)

Review
Doom-metal.com
06.04.2012

Two years after their phenomenal – if somewhat controversial – album ’Au Ellai’, Ea unleash their fourth, self-titled release which consists of a single long track. The obscurity of the band members’ identity as well as their alleged use of ancient languages have been discussed exhaustively enough in earlier reviews, so let us solely concentrate on the music this time.

The new album is certainly more complex than its predecessor and therefore likely to be a positive surprise for those who perceived ’Au Ellai’ as a too accessible and uninspired effort. Ea is also more diverse stylistically: It even contains two faster doublebass passages, the second of which features rocking power chords in the rhythm guitar as well as blackish screams – elements which are uncommon to the band’s sound. In direct comparison to the last album, there are fewer solos and recurring motifs. Furthermore, the drums are more minimalist this time and do almost completely without the weird fills which were typical of earlier releases. The latter development is wisely chosen by the musicians because it helps maintain the hypnotic flow of the music.

Despite these minor changes, this album is unlikely to disappoint any long-standing fan, for in essence it still embodies the style Ea are known for: Majestic and melodic Funeral Doom drenched in an atmosphere of utter melancholy and hopeless yearning. In fact, the 47 minutes of this track really take the stylistic trademarks to their very extreme – this is Funeral Doom at its most majestic and melodic! The atmosphere is very intense, at certain points it becomes almost suffocating, and this alone is a huge achievement in songwriting. Powerful chords and repetitive drum patterns set the basis for the ultra-slow arrangements, while the characteristic meandering lead guitar and omnipresent keyboards with sounds of choirs, organ and strings (even some pizzicato strings can be heard in the background at one point) weave intricate textures of melody. Cheerless female vocals can be heard throughout a short section, calling to mind the first Shape of Despair album with its elegant balance of beauty and utter bleakness. All of these elements are embedded in a strong and clear production.

As a consequence of what has been said, those who prefer their Doom raw and grim will remain unsatisfied of course, but any other fan of the genre will probably be delighted. However, Ea calls for a lot of patience, open-mindedness and dedication if it is to be appreciated fully. You cannot expect it to leave much of an impression if listened to in the background on your laptop while writing your emails (for instance). Long sections of the album are entirely instrumental whereas the hoarse growls do not figure too prominently. Furthermore, the music – as always with Ea – is subtle and does not exactly bombard you with emotions upon first listen. But if you invest some attention, you will find that this album is really worth the effort. It is captivating from beginning to end and might leave you rocking to and fro on your sofa, seemingly apathetic, but in fact fully absorbed by the atmosphere and emotions on display. In all, this is a fantastic release which can make the Funeral Doom scene proud.

As a side note and humorous nod to those who are familiar with the discussion, I noticed that this is the first Ea album which does not feature the mysterious sample of haunted whispers!

Author: Dominik Sonders

Review
The Pit of the Damned
7.5/10
13.06.2012

Che le porte dell’inferno si aprano a voi. Benvenuti ancora una volta nel tetro antro della bestia. Gli Ea sono tornati, con quello che è il quarto capitolo della loro discografia. L’enigmatica band russa questa volta supera se stessa in fatto di numero di song e si limita a proporci una lunga suite di 47 strazianti minuti di funeral doom. Ripartendo laddove avevano lasciato con il precedente capitolo, “Au Ellai”, gli Ea (il cui nome si rifà a quello di una divinità babilonese) aprono questa nuova release con dei lugubri tocchi di pianoforte, che si rivelerà la vera anima del cd. Poi ecco i piatti ed infine il lento tribolare delle chitarre, lente, sovrane e dilanianti, prima che il vocalist soverchi con il suo orrorifico growling, il sound dei nostri. Torna la lente marcia funebre ad accompagnarmi nell’ascolto dell’omonimo capitolo degli Ea. Gli ingredienti per descriverne il sound, rimangono quelli di sempre: ritmiche oscure, estremamente malinconiche e decadenti, dal lentissimo e pesantissimo incedere, deprimente e soffocante. Dopo 13 minuti, ecco il primo squarcio di luce nel cielo plumbeo degli Ea: un riffing abbandona il desolante gelo creato fino ad ora, per infondere un po’ più di calore nella fredda notte della taiga russa, ma poi ecco poi il sound dei nostri ripiombare nuovamente negli abissi. Mi ridesto al minuto 26, quando a fare capolino è un’eterea voce femminile. La cosa inizia a farsi ancora più intrigante, l’atmosfera è ariosa, assai melodica, ma in paio di minuti il ghiaccio paralizzante di cui è intriso il sound degli Ea, freeza l’immagine, ne fa una istantanea, da cui è difficile mobilizzarsi. Le mie gambe sono come inglobate dalle sabbie mobili. Un nuovo fulmine si staglia nel buio paesaggio notturno: un assolo da panico che per due, tre minuti, blocca il battito del mio cuore. Una sorta di Pink Floyd in versione funeral, che tormenta abilmente il mio io interiore, con un dolore portato all’esasperazione totale, la cui unica soluzione è la fine di tutto. Il nulla. Se avete bisogno di abbandonarvi in una catartico flusso emozionale “Ea” è ciò che fa per voi, ma attenzione ad abusarne, vi potrebbe portare al suicidio…

Author: Francesco Scarci

Review
Ave Noctum
7/10
22.05.2012

More mystery and intrigue from Ea a band who are rumoured to be from Russia but this could just be due to the fact they are on Russian label Solitude Productions. Little is known about them apart from the fact they have left three previous albums in their wake prior to this. The last of which Au Elli, impressed me a fair bit on review in 2010. Having already released an album Ea II they have forgone all chronology and are now bringing out Ea and even more obtusely this is a one track, self titled album weighing in at a whopping 47 and a half minutes.

The charcoal cover is bleak enough and the music within is at times torturous and difficult to all but those who dwell in utmost darkness. Some light and airy keyboard work leads into a ponderous and sluggish melody which literally sucks all remaining light out of your soul. This is funeral doom, either you are going to appreciate this for what it is or just avoid it, it is not for you and it is no quick easy to grasp listen. You can easily mention others within the genre such as Thergothon, Skepticism and even Esoteric but nothing will particularly prepare you for this. Guitar sound is very much at the front and meandering along in no hurry whilst vocals are almost incidental, at times they growl in the background and at others they are only noticeable after a long period of instrumentation, when they suddenly come back in. There is a fair bit of melody riding over the thick and treacle like sluggishness of the bass sound and it unravels with precise definition.

Changes do occur although this flows as one and it works well in this way as a singular track. There is a passage of organ work lifting this to grandiosity and it is not all doom and gloom, there are times, that like the eventual light of a new day filtering through we are offered a glimmer hope. Choral strains in the background are one such example of this, angelic relief in the domain of pitch blackness. On repeated listens you will possibly find yourself looking out for certain nuances within the general sound, some pizzicato strums quirkily uplifting the mood or some more low growls rendered apparently in a dead language recreated especially according to the results of archaeological study.

It is almost a relief when at just over the half way mark things are defined more clearly and the music goes into sedentary trot and the vocals rise in a harsh and gravid (albeit it still in the background) fashion. You may not be banging your head in time to this but hopefully it will have reminded you to breathe. Surprise at the addition of lilting female vocals is the next thing to be embraced.

Your ability to cope with despair is probably going to reflect on how much you enjoy (for want of a better word) this. What is torture to some is delirium to others so it is a case of endure or avoid. Even when you think the track has finally finished it is one of a couple of false promises as this takes an age to die and even if its death throws are not climatic you are fully aware of its passing as silence is once again installed.

Author: Pete Woods

Review
Valley of Steel
28.04.2012

Time to breathe a huge sigh of relief. As of midnight last night, school’s out for summer! I feel a bit dazed, and a bit numb. I’ve been out of high school for fifteen years now, so it’s refreshing to know I should only have about one more year to go before I finally complete my degree. But honestly, I don’t want to think about that right now. I don’t want to think about anything at all if I can help it. I know I can use a bit of work on my time management skills, because otherwise I wouldn’t have been up until past four in the morning Thursday night trying to get stuff caught up. Let me tell you, it’s pretty surreal to be getting ready to go to bed and to hear your alarm clock telling you it’s time to get up for work. I didn’t have to get up for work yesterday; I had the day off and took advantage of that to head out to the physical campus to take some final exams, as well as getting some last-minute homework turned in, but nevertheless it is weird to be getting into bed at around the same time I had gotten out of bed the previous day!

All of that made for a pretty interesting Friday, but I am just totally relieved to have all of that over with — at least for the next few months. And as I said, I really don’t want to have to do any thinking, or anything at all that might be mentally taxing. I just need a few days to recover, I think. On the upside, I will probably be spending more time writing blog posts, so you’re welcome for that! For now, though, I just want to curl up in this chair with a bottle of wine (an Argentinian chardonnay from Bodega Elena de Mendoza, if you were curious), and my headphones, and listen to something that doesn’t really require any mental effort. My plan is just to close my eyes and let my consciousness drift off into some state of complete numbness.

Usually I would be starting an album review by including some kind of useful information about the band or the place where they come from, but honestly, fuck that. My brain is on vacation today, and doing research is forbidden. Fortunately, I’ve got the perfect album for the way I feel, because there really isn’t anything to think about. The band is called Ea, the record is called Ea, and their label (Russian kings of doom Solitude Productions) has included absolutely zero biographical information whatsoever. Evidentally Ea previously have released a trilogy of albums for that label, and this self-titled work is their fourth release, but somehow it is still unknown what part of the world this band come from or who any of the members are, or anything. Today, I’m completely okay with that.

So what kind of sounds can we expect from this utterly mysterious, unknown entity? Slow, dirgey, doomy, and incredibly fucking epic. How epic?, you ask. Well how about this: the album Ea includes just one gigantic monolith of a track, which is called — can you guess? — “Ea”. This clocks in at about forty-seven and a half minutes in duration. Yeah, more than three-quarters of an hour, and yeah, that’s one song. Like I said, pretty fucking epic.

Obviously, if you’ve got an average attention span, or even somewhat longer than average attention span, you might be afraid you’d get bored over the course of something this long. I’ll be honest with you, there are a lot of people that this won’t appeal to, but I think the band was fully aware of that when they wrote and recorded this massive composition. But, as I said earlier, this is pretty perfect for what I am looking for right now — something to fill my ear-holes while I chill the fuck out and let my brain completely shut down and reboot itself. If something like that is on your agenda anytime soon, I couldn’t recommend this highly enough.

We start simply enough: with a few plinks on a piano — weighty, purposeful plinks. Then the drums and guitars are introduced, both very slow and unembellished. Everything here is extremely doomy, deathly slow, and tends to wash over you, drilling into your skull and creating an overall sense of numbness and peace. Just a touch of vocals are brought in, also slow and deep. And growly. Can’t really make out the words, but that would be too much effort anyway — too much thinking involved in hearing actual words and comprehending what is being said. This is definitely more about emotions and catharsis, and communicating ideas by way of sounds and tones, than by actual language.

Some layers of strings, too, and later a choir. Some parts of this opus take on funeralesque qualities, at one point also centering around a churchy pipe organ sound, which is also very dirgey and dismal-sounding.

We are treated to some great doom metal drums; some trimphal-sounding guitar riffs as well as some mournful and pensive ones. Lots of orchestral or string motifs, and choir singing — as well as the death growls. But sometime later we also have some female voices singing in harmony. This music is definitely more about the feeling it produces in the listener, rather than catchy melodies or anything of that sort.

After a long journey trudging through mud and rain we arrive at the conclusion of our trip; the sounds gradually fade away, leaving just a few notes struck on the piano to return us full circle to where we had originally set out — so very long ago — and in so much more of a peaceful, serene state of mind now than we were then.

Sometimes listening to something this expansive all the way from beginning to end really does feel like a long journey — and on reaching the conclusion it can leave you with an immense sense of accomplishment, (even though you haven’t really done anything beyond passively sitting in a chair, and hitting the play button). I feel much better now — much more relaxed, but beyond that, it’s like I have achieved a higher state of consciousness. Except it’s more like a lower, deeper state; I feel as if I have journeyed into myself, and come out feeling more aware — rather than taking a trip outside of myself.

Or maybe I’m just getting a little drunk, who the hell knows?

In any case, you’d be doing yourself a great disservice not to look into this monumental work of art. It’s available to stream via Bandcamp (see widget below), as all of Solitude Productions’ releases are nowadays (including this band’s three prior albums — see the relevant links at the bottom of the post to check those out too). So, clear your appointment book for the rest of the afternoon, turn off your phone, shut your eyes and prepare to be enlightened.

Author: valleyofsteel

Review
Darkside
9/10
23.04.2012

от и разродились новым опусом таинственные музыканты, скрывающиеся под странноватым названием EA. Причём произошло это совершенно неожиданно - как и положено релизам проекта, чье творчество намеренно окружено ореолом таинственности . Кто-то группу хоронил, но многие надеялись на продолжение - и именно их надежды в конечном итоге оправдались. Кстати, с первых же минут прослушивания начинаешь понимать, что это именно продолжение предыдущего творения группы. Это заметно, прежде всего, по звучанию альбома, которое хоть и подверглось небольшому изменению (причём в лучшую сторону), но в общем плане осталось практически идентичным уже знакомому нам: как и в предыдущем альбоме, здесь присутствует большое количество неторопливых размеренных соло, многочисленные клавишные и хоралы, жёсткие гитары то слышатся на заднем плане, то словно осторожно окутывают своим звучанием, а то и вовсе выходят на передний план, создавая тем самым неповторимую атмосферу. Все 47 минут, что длится эта кажущаяся нескончаемой композиция, мы можем наблюдать постоянную смену музыкальных тем, переходы с быстрого темпа на медленный и наоборот. Всё это делает путешествие в параллельный мир, созданный в этом альбоме, более увлекательным.

Саунда проекта, впрочем, коснулись и определенные изменения. Особенно это чувствуется по более ощутимо выдвинутым на передний план ритм-гитаре и ударным. И, естественно, вся эта «красота» сопровождается несравненными вокальными партиями, в которых солист на неизвестном нам диалекте поёт (а точнее рычит) про что-то, о чём нам не дано знать...

Подводя итог, можно сказать следующее: наверняка многие bp nt[, кто ожидал сие творение, думал, сможет ли группа переплюнуть свои предыдущие альбомы или нет и каждый после прослушивания "Ea" сделает для себя свои определённые выводы, касаемо данного вопроса. С моей же точки зрения, группа нашла дальнейший путь развития своего творчества, притом не сворачивая с выбранного направления, записав этот сильный альбом.

Author: Soror