Metal Underground.com

Experimenting with dual harmonies between soothing and unpleasant, calm and heavy, chaotic and structured, Enduring Revery’s “Earth Floods Red” is another example of how solo bands are pushing the boundaries of metal and keeping the underground alive. With both sudden changes and long repeating sections that lull a listener into a musical trance, the EP is an exercise in skillfully handled contradictions and opposites.

The music heard on “Earth Floods Red” doesn’t easily fit into one single metal sub-genre, which makes it harder to review but more enjoyable to listen to. Some parts easily share similarities with black metal, but no one could possibly mistake this for a black metal album. Synths are in abundance, but there’s nothing particularly symphonic about these four tracks. Some of the doom focused moments, and much of the experimental nature of the music, brings to mind Hallowed Butchery, another underground but top-notch solo metal act.

What most separates Enduring Revery from other bands in this same vein is the mixing of acoustic parts with heaver segments. A song may be opened by atmospheric clean vocals, which then promptly dissolve as hoarse, tortured screams burst out of the background. The screams are tough to pin down as well, ending up somewhere between sludge and black metal, with a punk vibe even showing up now and again. Matching some of the more psychedelic parts with odd song structures, the harsh vocals tend to have a dream-like quality, being hazy but still coming from all directions at once. For those who want an even more spacey, trance-inducing ride, or for those who don't dig the vocals, the deluxe edition of the EP also features instrumental versions of all four tracks.

“Such Simple Words” and “Crawling Like Dogs” are the stand out tracks, but for completely opposite reasons. While the former works the soothing trance aspect, the latter jumps straight into a cyclical, moving eruption of violent screams and bass-heavy music that repeats without getting boring. The cherry on top occurs at the end, with a sustained scream and creepy, spacey sound effects.

“Earth Floods Red” is chaotic and extremely experimental, but bound to enough of a structure that the whole thing doesn’t fall apart. It’s gruff and abrasive, but has more than enough melody to keep afloat. In short, it’s the sort of thing that shows the limitless possibilities inherent to heavy music, and will no doubt inspire some other burgeoning musician somewhere to pick up an instrument and add yet another twist to metal.