Echidna: Dawn Of The Sociopath

Heavy breathing opens Portuguese thrash/death metallers Echidna's sophomore full length, Dawn of the Sociopath. Three years since the release of their first full length, Insidious Awakening, here the band show themselves as a unit, strong, tight, focussed, and synchronised with each other's every move. The riffs, drumming, and vocals all mesh together to form solid structures around which intelligent nuances and remarkable dynamics are woven. Instrumentally, each band member utilises their instrument to augment the song, not the other way around, thankfully. Too often is it the case that bands that are clearly adept with the tools of their trade mistake ability for song-writing, but Echidna have taken the time to explore the songs and let them breathe. Dawn of the Sociopath is rabid, intense, melodic, and aggressive, sometimes all at once. The product then, is an album of impressive magnitude, scope, and diversity. And as a concept album, what better way to explore "the devious and malicious mind of a sociopath"? Though it may be an all-too-obvious choice of subject for a metal band, what this choice has permitted Echidna to do is experiment with the full dynamic range that their chosen subject affords them. The tracks, instead of being solely full-on metal assaults have a broader landscape that uses each part of the song as an exploration that unites music with lyrics with theme. It's difficult to mark out any of the tracks as highlights since they all seem to work so well, both taken together and taken independently. Dawn of the Sociopath is an impressive slab of metal and Echidna have produced a magnificent album.

Tracklisting:

1. Synaptic Entropy
2. The Antagonist
3. Violent Compulsion
4. Comanded by Demons
5. Ágon
6. Obscuring My Reason
7. Sentient Nightmare
8. Dawn of the Sociopath
9. Bloodlust
10. Catharsis
11. The Fallout

Added: October 26th 2011
Reviewer: Jason Guest
Score:
Related Link: Echidna on Facebook
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Language: english

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