Review Text
Metal Maniacs Sept. 2006 Review By: Dave Brenner "So Belows musicianship, production quality and overall artistic value showcases a band that is no longer f**king around." "Be ready to throw down or be thrown the f*ck down when So Below hits your system because this is blood boiling sh*t, effective as hell." "Check your weapons at the door - this is an all out fistfight." The Hartford Advocate June 1, 2006 Review By: Dan Barry Musically, this is some excellent East Coast metal. 'There is no need to suffer,' vocalist Sean Gaura bellows on 'Sweet Dystopia,' while around him the band constructs tortures rarely seen outside of Guantanamo Bay and/or Hieronymous Bosch paintings. So Below will especially interest those who wonder where metal is going now that it's beginning to outgrow it's infatuation with hardcore. If this CD is any indication, it's a return to roots: the contemporary off-time signatures and tempo changes are there, but End-Time Illusion isn't beyond repeating a riff to see just how much torment they can extract from it. Highly recommended. Live4METAL.com March 2006 Review By: Dave Schalek End-Time Illusion (E-TI) from New England release their debut full-length, "So Below", on Spare Change Records. E-TI play a form of technical death/thrash heavily influenced by the early 90s technical side of Florida death metal pioneered by latter era Death, Cynic, and Atheist combined with a dose of American post-thrash epitomized by the first two albums of Machine Head. Only a few bands are out there playing in this style with any degree of merit (Poland's Sceptic comes to mind and, although a bit more brutal, Meshuggah's older material), but E-TI display a great deal of songwriting maturity, musicianship, and originality in a hard to perfect genre. Essentially, E-TI mixes some modern blastbeat speed liberally enhanced with some jarring time changes, chunky riffs similar to the American post-thrash style, gruff vocals, and some excellent guitar work similar to the latter work of Chuck Schuldiner. The guitar work is especially impressive on this debut, and displays a great deal of variation with some great riffs, excellent melodic acoustical and jazz interludes influenced by Cynic, etc., and some fast rhythms to accompany the few blasts. In addition, the accompanying bass work is excellent, with some great audible bass lines to enhance some of the jazz influences that appear. The drums are well done, expertly alternating between the blasts and slower rhythms to accompany the more melodic interludes. The stop-on-a-dime time changes are also handled well. I found that the relatively short, 9-track album required a couple of listens for the music to really sink in. In doing so, I discovered that E-TI play above and beyond what you'd expect from a debut. The musicianship and songwriting are that of a veteran band and hold enormous potential for the future. Let's see where they go from here. Highly recommended.
