AN NCS PREMIERE: ÉOHUM — “THE APATHETIC PLAGUE”

 

Montreal’s Éohum have completed work on their second EP — entitled Ealdfaeder — and it’s now scheduled for release by Mycelium Networks on March 18. From this five-track, 30-minute release, we bring you today the premiere of a distinctive and moving song called “The Apathetic Plague“.

When you listen to the track, it may help to understand the thematic concept of Ealdfaeder and the reflections that inspired the music, because from the band’s perspective they seem to be inseparable. As Éohum’s founder and guitarist Jeremy Perkins explains, “The album speaks generally about the lost voice of past cultures who were colonized and the decaying relationship humanity has with nature due to the societies we live in. The loss of traditions we held and relationships we had with nature.”

 

 

With respect to the song we’re premiering, in particular, Perkins says:

“‘The Apathetic Plague’ is the track I am most proud of, the arrangement and overall producing came out strong and clearly depicts Éohum‘s sound as a whole with our full lineup and new skin!

“The message projected in this song lyrically reveals our main message and thematic in this EP; being the loss of interest and connection between human cultures and the environment they are from in our greed-filled, corrupt world of today. Apathy runs deep, replacing our roots and ancestral symbiotic ways!”

It’s a multifaceted song, one that moves from ominous, blackened whirring to lurching, doomy staggers, and it grows increasingly intense as it unfolds, with shrieking, acid-bath vocals adding a sharp edge to the music’s passion.

With melodies that are both mournful and majestic, melancholy yet defiant, the song is accented by a beautiful motif performed on the French horn by Annie Perreault that really sticks in the head every time it appears, and there’s a bass-and-drum duet at the finale that’s riveting.

Ealdfaeder was recorded at Chris Donaldson’s (Cryptopsy) “The Grid” and includes guest drum performances on three of the tracks by The Agonist’s Simon McKay. For more info about the EP, check the links below the track list — and enjoy “The Apathetic Plague”.

P.S. The band explain that Éohum (pronounced ee-o-um) means “many Yew trees in old English, Yew tree is the Tree of Life for the English tribes of our past predating most of the Celt languages which blended Latin to their own afterward.”

1. Eurocide (6:16)
2. Unmasking A World Of Deceit (6:10)
3. The Apathetic Plague (7:41)
4. Ode To A Martyr (4:34)
5. Curative Undulations (4:39)
EP Length: 29:22

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Éohum/821823887910583
https://eohum.bandcamp.com