Band:	Echidna
Album:	Manifests Of Human Existence
Style:	Technical death metal, Thrash progressive metal
Release date:	April 2010
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Whispers
02. Political Sickness In D# Hijaz Kar
03. Grieving Silence
04. Dogma Of Cain
05. Tractatus Cerebri Act I, To Be
06. Tractatus Cerebri Act II, Driven Into
07. Tractatus Cerebri Act III, A Twisted State Of Mind
08. The Pendulum
09. Human Serpent
10. In Fanthomless Depths

Echidna: In the most ancient layers of Greek mythology, Echidna was called the "Mother of All Monsters" because most of the monsters in Greek myth were the offspring of Echidna and her husband Typhon.

Apart from the mythological part Echidna actually is real and it's not only a monster, it's also a Hellenic band that bites hard with technique! Manifests Of Human Existence is their debut album (they have released only one demo before) and it appears to be a pretty strong and solid release.

The band moves in technical death metal soundscapes with fierce power and groove without forgetting to offer a more progressive side with many interesting passages every now and then that distort the image you've had in mind so far, positively of course. If you thought you'd seen it all, the "Tractatus Cerebri" trilogy will send you to outer space with its progressive, surreal, even industrial aesthetic. The one great passage succeeds the other and you've been left speechless since you can't utter a single word concerning what you've just cherished. And then "The Pendulum" breaks in and destroys your fragile mind with its power and floating technique.

The guitars ride the wind with furious riffing, technical ideas, wonderful solos, melodic harmonies, acoustic chords and many more, the drumming is pure lunacy paving the way in any tempo and it's actually top-notch in terms of variety, even the bass lines are distinctive at times offering some very interesting ideas. If you thought that this was it, no, you will find some traditional instruments (like on "Political Sickness in D# Hijaz Kar") as well as keyboard lines partaking in the overall soundscape, appearing only whenever needed, henceforth they don't take control in the final outcome. The vocals are powerful with a wide range of extreme vibes, Theo grunts, shrieks, recites, hoarses, even spits the words with a sharper thrash-oriented edge lending voice to the social/political/humane lyrics that deserve to be expressed this way, with violence. A very interesting addition has to be the fact that, hell yeah, you won't find here the "cult" greek accent when it comes to pronouncing the english language!

Of course in the more progressive moments you will find an Opeth-ian prism that reflects resemblances and yes, there are references to the technical death metal scene (Death, Atheist, Cynic etc), but still, you gotta love Echidna, these guys grab their influences and they twist them in their very own inspired malevolent dance. I'm pretty sure that all this dynamic, experimental and technical sound in the future will be mirrored from a finer piece of glass, Manifests Of Human Existence is only the explosive beginning. Oh and you gotta love the cover artwork idea, life's a prison, once you've broken out of this presented heaven on earth you can hang any hypocritical mask instead of yourself for one and only simple reason, you're human now.

Highlights: "Whispers" that may leave an At The Gates feeling at times, "Political Sickness in D# Hijaz Kar" for its power and varied atmosphere as it reaches the end, the multifaceted aesthetic of the "Tractatus Cerebri" trilogy, the powerful "The Pendulum", "Dogma Of Cain."