AN NCS PREMIERE: (ECHO) — “BLOOD AND SKIN”

On May 23rd the Russian label BadMoonMan Records/Solitude Productions will release Head First into Shadows, the second album by the Italian band (EchO). Today we bring you the premiere of the new album’s opening track, “Blood and Skin“.

Since the band’s 2011 debut album Devoid of Illusions, there have been changes in (EchO)’s line-up as well as movements in the band’s sound, and the new record (mastered by Esoteric’s Greg Chandler) also features guest appearances by Daniel Droste (Ahab) and Jani Hala-Hukkala (Callisto) on two songs.

“Blood and Skin” builds its beautifully dreary atmosphere gradually, beginning with reverberating notes that immediately cast a spectral shade across the mind, forlorn yet beautiful. As the guitarists begin the song’s shining central melody, the sense of loss grows steadily stronger, with soulful clean vocals moving into wrenching growls. The music’s intensity and heaviness surge and then ebb repeatedly, the band continuing to stamp the track’s aching, evocative melodies firmly into your head. The track culminates in a gorgeous, echoing solo, and if you’re like me, it will leave you longing for more.

“Blood and Skin” is an appealing piece of atmospheric doom that’s ghostly and ethereal yet also rooted in the inescapable and all-too-human feelings of loss and pain — to borrow from Shakespeare, “the heartache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to”.

Head First into Shadows will be released worldwide, both digitally and on CD, through BadMoonMan Records/Solitude Productions on May 23rd. Enjoy “Blood and Skin” below these links:

https://www.facebook.com/echoband.official
https://echodoom.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Solitude-Productions/55837348615
http://solitude-prod.com/