Band:	Eidola
Album:	Eviscerate
Style:	Djent, Math rock, Post-hardcore
Release date:	April 2024

01. Atman: An Introduction To Suffering
02. A Bridge Of Iron And Blood
03. No Weapon Formed Shall Prosper
04. Who Of You Will Persevere?
05. The Weight Of Sin
06. He Who Pulls The Strings Ties A Knot
07. Fistful Of Hornets
08. God Takes Away Everything
09. Ziggurat
10. Ashes In Gehinnom
11. Kali Yuga
12. Golgotha Compendium: Fifth Temple
13. Ecclesiastes: The Burden Of Wisdom

First, they signed with Blue Swan Records and became part of the ‘Swancore’ math/post-hardcore subgenre, and now they’ve hopped aboard the Djent Express; Eidola clearly aren’t afraid of dabbling with divisive sounds.

Utah’s Eidola have been associated with post-hardcore pretty much since their inception, but their incorporation of math, prog, ambient and occasional metallic elements defied easy categorization. Their collaboration with Dance Gavin Dance’s Will Swan began fairly early in their career, and after producing their second album Degeneraterra, Swan signed Eidola to his label in time for the release of album number three, To Speak, To Listen, in 2017. Frontman Andrew Wells has subsequently joined and, as of 2024, also fronts Dance Gavin Dance, yet despite the guest presence of that band’s Jon Mess on 2021’s The Architect, Eidola’s recent trajectory has not taken their sound irretrievably into Swancore territory; instead, occasional glimpses of metal on The Architect have evolved into a full-blown djentrification of the band’s style on Eviscerate.

I was introduced to Eidola via The Architect, and the album has become (along with the works of Hail The Sun) arguably my favourite thing to come from the math-heavy trend that has dominated post-hardcore in the past decade or so. However, there were some mixed responses to its release, particularly from fans more oriented towards the band’s early records, where an increased range of influences and dynamism could be heard. With Eviscerate, I feel like I’m experiencing a similar reaction; djent is a style that I have stated my fondness for on a number of occasions here, but while the band’s math and post-hardcore roots remain intact on this release, a pivot towards something of a prog-metalcore style on this latest release seems to have caused Eidola’s range to arguably narrow further still this time around.

Some of that perhaps comes from the abbreviated nature of the songs here; aside from “Golgotha Compendium: Fifth Temple” (with its 6 minutes and 36 seconds), all songs here run for less than 5 minutes, and all bar 2 of those for less than 4. Still, while the songs may not traverse a whole lot of ground within their runtimes, there is some variety in approach between them. A sample-laden introductory track leads into “A Bridge Of Iron And Blood”, which immediately announces Eidola’s newfound metallic urges with gusto, launching into crunching djent riffage during the verse. For a band newly moving into the genre, Eidola have the fundamentals of the style down, as exhibited on the punchy “The Weight Of Sin” and during the bleak climactic breakdown of “Fistful Of Hornets”. At the same time, Eidola’s technical virtuosity is on display with some remarkable lead guitar work throughout, and the likes of “Who Of You Will Persevere?” and “He Who Pulls The Strings Ties A Knot” display the progressive post-hardcore approach that prevailed on The Architect (and also Wells’ compelling singing voice) clearly.

The string of songs that comprises the first two-thirds of the tracklist is fairly consistently decent, but rarely threatens to rival the memorability or allure of the bulk of The Architect’s tracklist. Arguably the highlights of this stretch of the album are “No Weapon Formed Shall Prosper”, partly for its quasi-ambient detour during its bridge, as well as “The Weight Of Sin” on account of having the liveliest and most memorable chorus among these songs. On the flip side, the triple-header of “Fistful Of Hornets”-“God Takes Away Everything”-“Ziggurat” collectively lack something in the way of impact or memorability.

Curiously enough, however, it is the end of that triplet of songs that sees Eidola’s musical ambition on the album begin to grow, which may not coincidentially align with the album’s final songs being its longest. “Ashes In Gehinnom” starts off with the same prog-metalcore/post-hardcore hybridization that characterizes much of Eviscerate, but a sudden break around two-thirds of the way into the song introduces a passage of quiet contemplation, evoking the band’s past dabblings with ambience and post-rock, and “Kali Yuga” (a duet between Wells and his wife Chantelle) dials down the intensity in favour of a mellower, more melodic, and more vibrant compositional style that effectively balances the math rock, post-rock and post-hardcore. The aforementioned “Golgotha Compendium: Fifth Temple” then comes along and offers up a ‘kitchen sink’ approach that spans pretty much every stylistic cue heard on Eviscerate, as well as some that have perhaps been left behind in their prior discography.

Eidola do a fairly good job of escalating their prior flirtations with metal into something more substantial, and between their technical skills and innate capacity for catchy songwriting, Eviscerate makes for broadly enjoyable listening to genre fans. However, I find it falls short of its predecessor by quite a margin when it comes to memorability, variety and excitement, so I (and presumably plenty of the band’s more old-school fans) hope that they can find a way to effectively balance their past and future interests should they go further along the path they’re currently walking.