Echtra/BardO/Temple Of Torturous/2018 CD Review

  Echtra  are  a  band  from  Olympia,  Washington  that  has  had  music  reviewed  before  in  this  zine  and  plays  a  blackened  form  of  drone/doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2018  album  "BardO"  which  will  be  released  in  November  by  Temple  Of  Torturous.

  Atmospheric  sounding  synths  and  drones  start  off  the  album  while  both  of  the  tracks  are  over  23  minutes  in  length  along  with  some  acoustic  being  added  onto  the  recording  a  few  seconds  later  which  also  mixes  in  with  the  heavier  sections  of  the  music  at  times  and  after  awhile  melodic  riffing  is  added  onto  the  recording.

 At  times  the  music  gets  very  atmospheric  while  the  vocals  are  mostly  high  pitched  black  metal  screams  along  with  a  brief  use  of  melodic  chants  as  well  as  some  elements  of  doom  metal  in  the  slower  sections  of  the  songs  and  the  music  also  gets  very  experimental  at  times,  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  style  and  on  the  second  track  the  music  starts  going  into  a  faster  direction  which  also  uses  a  decent  amount  of  tremolo  picking  and  blast  beats.

  Echtra  creates  another  recording  that  remains  true  to  the  black,  doom  metal  and  drone  mixture  of  previous  releases,  the  production  sounds  very  dark  while  the  lyrics  cover  the  transmission  of  one's  existence  between  life  times.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Echtra  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  black, doom  metal  and  drone,  you should  check  out  this  album. 8  out  of  10.

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Echtra/Paragate/Temple Of Torturous Records/2011 CD Review

  Echtra are a band from Oregon that plays a style that I would describe as being atmospheric blackened drone/doom metal and this is a review of their 2011 album "Paragate" which will  be released by Temple Of Torturous Records.

Drums are mostly slow playing with some fast parts but not much in the way of blast beats being used on this recording, while the synths when they are heard have a dark ambient feel to them, and there are no bass guitars being used on this recording.

Rhythm guitars are mostly slow riffs that combine influences from black,drone and doom metal and there is a small amount of fast black metal riffing being utilized briefly, and there are no guitar leads or solos on this recording, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized they are very dark and repetitive sounding with some finger picking and full chords being used.

Vocals when they are utilized have a very dark and grim black metal feel to them with some occasional clean singing, there are no lyrics on this recording but the music touches on the winter on autumn solstices with a feeling that some dark spirits are being invoked, as for the production on this album, it has a very dark, raw and heavy sound to it.


In my opinion Echtra are a very good black/drone/doom metal band and if you are a fan of this style, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED BUY.

http://www.myspace.com/23echtra23