UMUR "Drones of the Awakening" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Italian death metal act Eyeconoclast. The album was released through Prosthetic Records in April 2013. Eyeconoclast released a pretty brilliant EP in 2011 titled "Sharpening Our Blades on the Mainstream" and since then I´ve been dying to find out if they would follow it up with a full-length release of the same high quality...

...as it turns out all three tracks from the EP are also included in re-recorded versions on "Drones of the Awakening" and as the rest of the material on the album are of an equally high standard my expectations are fully met. "Drones of the Awakening" are simply loaded with highly energetic and rather aggressive death metal with occasional melodic leanings. There are sections in some tracks (especially in the three older tracks) that lead my thoughts toward melodeath, but this is not as such that type of music. At times I´m reminded of the first couple of Soilwork albums (before they started using clean vocals) played at an extremely frantic pace and with great technical skill (the drummer is nothing short of amazing). The album also features a caustic aggression not completely unlike the violent death/thrashy output by Defleshed.

The vocals on the album are higher pitched and aggressive in nature, as opposed to more "regular" deep and growling death metal type vocals, which only provides the music with an even more rabid attitude. There is not a single weak track on the 11 track, 48:51 minutes long album, but it´s the kind of album that leaves you no breathers (check out the almost suffocating density of tracks like "Rise of the Orgamechanism" and "Dawn of the Promethean Artilect"). There is not a single relaxing moment on the album, which ultimately makes it a harsh listen, but thankfully the band are skilled composers and the many great riffs and tempo changes keep the album entertaining all the way through.

The sound production is raw and powerful. Maybe a bit hard on the ears, but it suits the music well. "Drones of the Awakening" certainly isn´t an easy listen and some people might be turned off by the extremely frantic nature of their music. Repeated listens are recommended though and should reveal that Eyeconoclast have more tricks up their sleeve than just playing fast-paced and frantic music. "Drones of the Awakening" features excellent musicianship, a great sound production and some very well crafted songs, and a 4.5 star (90%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Sharpening Our Blades on the Mainstream" is an EP release by Italian death metal act Eyeconoslast. The EP was released in February 2011 by Downfall Records. The band have released a string of demos between 2003 and 2005 and their debut full-length studio album "Unassigned Death Chapter" in 2008, so "Sharpening Our Blades on the Mainstream" is the band´s 2nd "official" release.

The EP features 3 tracks distributed over 12:28 minutes so it would be fair to say that "Sharpening Our Blades on the Mainstream" isn´t a very long release. What you don´t get in quantity you get in spades in quality though. This is simply kickass high energetic death metal. We´re talking melodic death metal but not of the sweet and polished kind. The music on the EP is rather of a more raw melodic death metal style with technical riffing, great rythmic variation and aggressive death/thrash growls/sneers. Over the course of just 3 tracks Eyeconoslast more than convince me of their qualities. They are not only skilled musicians but also great songwriters. They make transitions between sections sound like it´s piece of cake while other similar sounding artists struggle not to sound awkward when they change pace or go from a melodic section to a harder edged one. So it´s safe to say that Eyeconoslast feature the whole package.

It´s not everyday a 3 track EP convinces me of a band´s qualities as successfully as "Sharpening Our Blades on the Mainstream" and that achivement deserves a 4 star rating. I find the EP recommendable to fans of fast, relentlessly energetic and aggressive melodic death metal without too much polish.