THE EPILLANIC CHORAGI

To be honest, this band seemed to be really good. The title of the album was inventive, the concept behind the album was creative, the artwork in th booklet was some of the best I have ever seen, and even the chapterised songs seemed to be insteresting. But there was something missing:

The idea of No Made Sense seemed like a good idea, but so does world piece. The idea of post hardcore metal mixed with Meshuggah rythyms and odd time signatures is intreseting, and so was the idea of a long piece of music with only one recurring theme. But to be honest, this album bored me a bit.

The vocals were very strained and almost inlistenable, the riifs seemed to be very tedious throughout, there were no hooks or catchy melodies, just constant metal riffing (but in a more tolerable way than what Metallica are doing these days.) The album wasn't terrible, it was just a bit boring.

Although, the drumming on this album is phenomanal. The prodcution is also amazing.

The concept was a good idea and quite creative, but musically it lacked detial. The type of language the lyrcist used was also very good. It had a very Shakespearen vibe to it.

The story is about a guy called Syr, who hears a voice in his head, (mabye God), to build a tower that can pierce through the sky. When he does this., he will then be saved and the world beneath him will die. Syr makes the tower, people get angry, Syr goes uo to the tower, no one is there, people knock down the tower, Syr dies. Awww...

1. Wake Of Syr - Interesting sounding Neurosis like instrumental. A weird start, but effective.

2. The Epillanic Choragi - Automatically, I can spot the influences. The 7th string rythyms of Sikth are very noticable. The theme gets very tedious, but the intresting change in rythyms keeps the listener occupied.

3. Entases Of Azure - A more upbeat song. The vocals are very bad and the theme gets annoying after a while. Although some of the lead parts near the end are good.

4. Seeking Beyond - An interesting instrumental. The effects give us the impression that a tower is being built.

5.Milachis Depth - The riff in this song reminds me of something from Ziltoid The Omniscient. I like the way that riff is buliding up for a climax. It gets a bit tedious at the end though.

6. Aciculaccolith - Another weird instrumental with a discordant piano part. I have no comment.

7. Elico Moieties - Another upbeat song. Still a bit boring, but the drums do make it intresting.

8. Prophyrachis - One of the most intersting songs on the album. Sounds like a darker version of Massive Attack.

9. Epinolitholatyr - The intro to this song is defiently the best moment on the album. It reminds me of Mayhem. Very long and tedious.

10. Wake Of Sry (II) - The end...thank God.

CONCLUSION - I didn't get this album. Mabye you will...

"The Epillanic Choragi" is the debut full-length studio album by UK, Reading, London based progressive metal act No Made Sense. The album was released through Basick Records in March 2009. No Made Sense were formed in 2003 and released the "NoMadeSense" EP in 2007.

"The Epillanic Choragi" is a fantasy concept album and there is a thematic red thread throughout the album. Lyrically and musically. It's not an album featuring tons of lyrics though as the tracks often feature long instrumental sections. When there are vocals on the tracks, they are predominantly raw screaming hardcore type vocals but there are some rare subdued clean vocals on the album too. The music features both hard edged angular riff sections and atmospheric parts. It's artists like Alchemist, Tool, and Gojira that I'm reminded of, but it's actually the probably less known Argentinian band Random that I'm mostly reminded of. There is a similar approach to combining the structured riff sections and the often seemingly improvised atmospheric sections.

No Made Sense are a well playing band and there are some great skill on display throughout the album. The vocals are delivered with the right amount of aggression and conviction, and the organic instrumental interplay between the musicians work really well too. Combined with a powerful and professional sound production, "The Epillanic Choragi" comes off as a quality release. A couple of more hook laden moments could have elevated the tracks to a higher level and the instrumental sections often drag on a bit too long, but overall the songwriting is on a relatively high level too. On the negative side of things a playing time of 74:01 minutes is also a bit too long, so upon conclusion "The Epillanic Choragi" ends up a mixed bag with both brilliant moments and and some more tedious tendencies where the instrumental parts can seem a bit aimless. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)