Eibon Couvrent la Tour Eiffel en Sludge
On their only EP to date, Eibon (Aesthetic Death), the Paris four-piece of the same name craft a brutally sludge-filled sound that runs utterly contradictory to every Francophiliac impression I?ve ever had of their home city. Because they play sludge and because vocalist Georges Balafas is a phlegmy screamer whose voice is well-suited to the lumbering riffs of guitarist Max Hedin, someone is bound to compare them to Eyehategod, but the two tracks included here, ?Asleep and Threatening? and ?Staring at the Abyss,? are far more atmospheric and not nearly as raw-sounding. There?s more happening here than Bower-powered riffs and Southern-fried nihilism.
Each of the two songs is over 10 minutes long, and Eibon gives a credible showing of diversity within the doom/sludge realm. Hedin, bassist St?phane Rivi?re and drummer Jerome Lachaud all used to be in Horrors of the Black Museum, and Balafas? past in Drowning shows through in some of his deeper growls, despite his generally keeping things in a mid-register rasp that comes off like a differently applied version of Darkest Hour?s John Henry?s indecipherability. By that I mean I don?t have a god damn clue what he?s saying, but it sounds like it?s hurting him an awful lot to say it.
As it should be, ?Staring at the Abyss? is the longer and by and large the slower of the two cuts, and shows off more of Rivi?re?s bass tone. Some ambient guitar lines offset Balafas? curdling, offering at least a moment of respite before the significant and hurtful groove picks back up and leads to a slow build and, eventually, a reverb-soaked finish. That the riffs are huge-sounding feels like it should go without saying, but there it is anyhow. I don?t know if I?d call the EP the most inspired bit of sludgery I?ve ever heard, but Eibon have a capacity for bringing a heavy darkness to their sound that makes it more ?metal? than the average. That could be enough to set them apart from the scores of atmospheric batterers out there, and it could not. They could go either way from here. For now, Eibon?s a satisfying, if brief, listen.
Cheers!!