All the way from Nashville, Entheos are a new name to me, and for their fourth album Empty On The Inside, they’ve hit a sweet spot with a brilliant fusion of savage heaviness and melody. With the truly exceptional vocal ability of Chaney Crabb leading the charge, the line-up is completed by Navene Koperweis (drums, guitar, synths), Scott Carstairs (guitar), Michael Stancel (guitar) and Even Brewer (bass).
Opener ‘Hell Is a Part Of Me’ provides a bowel shaking rattle to kick off proceedings. Instant comparisons abound with the kind of ultra heavy punk attack with bonus choral melodies, that Slipknot knock out. The difference being Entheos pull in Chaney’s delightful tones by way of contrast. ‘Empty On The Inside’ fuses a twitchy punk pop sensibility with a devastatingly heavy bite in the chorus as waves of nasty noise flood round you. The pulsating groove is deeply gratifying. ‘Hollow’ drops the tempo a little for a tender breathy verse that opens up into a throat shredding chorus, guitars locked into a furious distorted rage. Pushing away any attempts for crossover to the mainstream the song kicks off midway through with some mighty guitar slams.
‘Call My Name’ is an ultra-heavy attack on the senses. Any semblance of melody is brutally strangled and despatched as riffs pile up into a twisted metallic carcass. There’s a brief moment where Chaney provides some warmth, but the song ends with a blur of guitars, drums and guttural howls. The majestic ‘Golden Crown’ reminds me of Garbage with a sweet fusion of electronics, liquid guitars and a beautiful melody. When the head wrecking chorus drops though, the anti-melodic vocals are weirdly addictive and hooky. It’s truly staggering how Chaney switches from sweet tones to a phlegm-loaded shriek.
‘Undone’ fizzes with an electronic atmospheric as dissonant synths glide around a broken beat. Chaney really soars with a beautiful melody. With a nod to Nine Inch Nails, the song showcases the versatility of the band pulling in different soundscapes. ‘Tomblight’ sounds calm by comparison to the heavier moments as Chaney’s breathy vocals swerve to almost angelic in the chorus. The guitar tones here are awesomely hefty when the song erupts into a manic shout fest. ‘Pale Faith’ nudges into Slipknot territory again with drum tones aping their punk fury. Switching up tempos as riffs fight for space it’s a chaotic riot of sound interspersed with moments of melodic respite.
The first appearance of clean guitars opens the elegiac ballad ‘Never Let Me Go’. Chaney gets to show her superb clean vocal style with all the bluster stripped away. I’m reminded of the sadly defunct Ithica, who also managed to combine great melodies with seriously heavy instrumentation. ‘The Earth Will Move’ opens with spiralling guitar lines, the undertow builds up into something more aggressive as brain thudding guitars chug. Eventually the song becomes an absolute behemoth of growled vocals, screams and blast beats by way of one final pay-off of noise.
When Entheos go heavy, they go in with both feet as slamming walls of noise and bile twisting rage try to smash into your cranium. Yet somehow, they allow pockets of melody to permeate the mix, so there is the possibility they’ll get some traction in terms of more exposure. In Chaney Crabb, they have one incredible vocalist, her range of styles is astonishing. It’s hard to comprehend the varying styles she covers aren’t the combination of several vocalists. This is a seriously uncompromising album with enough energy to power the national grid.
