In Silent Agony is a project by Eski, who performs all instruments and vocals, as well as handling production and recording duties. A month back In Silent Agony dropped its 5 track metal induced EP “Villainous”. Right out of the gate, with the title track Eski defines a distinct guitar sound, hitting on a technical and varied sound that almost makes you forget this is can be extreme death metal at times.
The whole thing just knocks you over, this being the perfect blend of aggression and technicality. It is a brutal barrage that pulls no punches and pummels the listener’s ear drums. With its impenetrable wall of sound, killer bass, hard hitting drumming, and fiery guitar work.
On “Sightless”, In Silent Agony makes the beat a big, relentless wave which gets shoved down the listener’s throat. But he sometimes creates breakdowns that change the beat. The growling here will pound your ears and crack your bones, grinding them into dust.
Those of you who don’t listen to a lot of underground music but are looking to expand their catalog of heavy music should really hear the mix on “A Dark Embrace”, one of the standout tracks in this concise collection. This is far from a simple testosterone fest.
Instead, the EP combines unrelenting aggression with devastating precision and killer songwriting chops, making for a superb metal listen. In Silent Agony can slow down and really drive the heaviness into you, or he can speed things up and blast you straight through a wall.
No matter what though, the music is always gut-wrenchingly heavy, and played with an amazing level of skill, as is the case on the riff heavy “Plaguerism”.
Eski’s vocals are basically guttural, semi-intelligible growls typical of extreme metal, but they’re sufficiently angry and hateful for the music being played, that they fit perfectly. The rhythm section sounds really good too, while the drum and bass are inevitably pushed to the background by the more attention-grabbing nature of the guitars and vocals.
If you like heavy music that mixes brains with brawn, you can’t go wrong with “Diminishing Returns”, the EP closer which is very intense and rageful. The guitars are meaty, sharp, ultra-distorted and just plain heavy. Although I would appreciate some more guitar solos, the overall structure of In Silent Agony’s sound doesn’t make you miss them very much.
In an age of formulaic and predictable bands passed as metal or hard rock by the major labels, In Silent Agony sticks a defiant middle finger to the big record companies and just does his own thing. “Villainous” will bash your skull into the pavement and leave you begging for more.
Eski is leading the charge away from the flashy and fake nu-metal mania and into new ground…which is actually the original old ground. So if you’re not jaded on metalcore, hardcore whatever other label people come up with, then check this EP out because it’s a legitimate part of good heavy metal!
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