France's Ellipse are a metalcore act with hints of djent that I wouldn't be reviewing if I hadn't been commissioned to. They definitely aren't my sort of thing and all that damn hollering and yelling on the record just hurts my ears, to be honest. But I will say that there are some intriguing nodes in terms of structure, and the record definitely contains as much of a familiar post metal sound as it does one of screamy metalcore. The record actually contains several instrumental interludes to which an air of slightly depressing atmosphere is entered. A couple notable leads are uttered, with some forays into melodic death metal which definitely spices things up a little – but for more than a few people, the unchanging screams of the frontman will literally kill this listening experience for them. He grunts a little and there's a section with humongous breakdowns along with a very amateur attempt at a growl, but you can tell that these guys are still just getting started and have a lot of work ahead of them. It's obvious that they're plugging into the common modernisms of the age, but you can hear signs of purpose here and I think that could translate to something not so processed on the next record. Ellipse are showing me glimpses that they can indeed do more with this style than ten thousand other similar acts, but they'll need to step it up a little more before they can get the attention of this old head. I will say that they're definitely geared to the current generation of metal listeners and they'll find something in this record that I won't. I feel that all the senseless screaming works to give me a headache and my sinuses are already wreaking havoc on me tonight. Thank goodness for the solo sections, as they give me a break from all that erratic screaming. Can't say I'd recommend it, but Ellipse does musically a better job than a lot of signed acts I've heard performing this same style of music.
(11 Tracks, 36:00)
6/10
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