V.Ii R.Vi

Epicurean – V.II R.VI (JCM Records)
A weird amalgam of black metal, doom metal, clean vocals, and intensely textured ambient music. Fast- to mid-tempo, mostly, with a lot of dark moods and textures. The songs are rather progressive and they all go through numerous changes, never settling down. Really good stuff all-around.

Tracks:
1) Drum, piano, and ambient intro.
2) Heavy from the beginning, harsh male vocals with a neat spiraling riff and stop-n-go rhythm structure and lots of keys. Goes through many changes.
3) More keyboards, and then gritty vocals and a galloping rhythm. The chorus is all clean male and female vocals, and it’s beautiful, and there are once again many varied parts.
4) A really interesting chord structure with more of that galloping rhythm, and excellent vocals. The coda is pure brilliance.
5) An excellent piano section, cool guitar runs, and more great vocals, as well as guitar-solo type parts. Awesome!
6) Amazing buildup, sounds extremely sinister, and the song’s overall mood fits that perfectly. The keys are really prominent here.
7) Instrumental interlude, lots of keys and scary effects.
8) More mid-tempo, some very distinct thrash influences here, and the clean vocals make another appearance. The keys and overall song structure are very reminiscent of Cradle of Filth.
9) Awesome layered chorus and awesome section to follow it, more clean vocals, and nifty guitar solo.
10) A very early-COF-like intro, and then bells, chimes, and lots of clean vocals.
11) Another instrumental interlude, keys and piano and strings and an overall eerie feeling.
12) Scorching black metal riffing and keys, tight rhythm section, and excellent vocals. Excellent song.
13) Unlisted BONUS track, this was the intro from their first demo. It’s updated a bit, and it’s just another one of those instrumental ambient pieces.