THE EPILLANIC CHORAGI

"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)