Album Review: Escarion - Pillars of the Faith (2021)

Picture Credit: Escarion
Artwork: St. Chaos Art

Escarion - Pillars of the Faith
Release Date: January 29, 2021
Label: selfrelease
Format: Digital
Length: 56:46
Genre: Death Metal
Origin: Melbourne, Australia

"Pillars of the Faith" is the name of the first full-length release by Melbourne's Escarion. Back in 2017, the quartet came out with their EP "Pinnacle of Neglect", and since then they provided us with some appetizers for the album.
And here it is, a nine-track album containing almost one hour of Death Metal. According to their Instagram profile, Escarion play Blackened and Melodic Death Metal. I tend to disagree with those terms. Elements of Melodic Death Metal can be spotted here and there, but apart from some staccati and the lead guitar in 'Wrath' the Black Metal influence is rather nonexistent. Instead, I would say that Escarion show a strong tendency towards Technical Death Metal à la Death or Suffocation.


The album's theme is a very common one. Seven of the nine tracks are named after the deadly sins. Well okay, it is a powerful theme and an approved method of showing that humans are garbage (or at least sinners). Unfortunately I cannot help thinking "oh okay, another seven deadly sins-themed Death Metal release".

Picture Credit: Escarion


The music on "Pillars of the Faith" is defined by a thrashing and highspeed groove. Escarion add a lot of variety to their tracks. The song 'Greed' (video above) might be the best example for the band's versatile sound. Hacking technical Death Metal is being decorated with atmospherically melodic leads, and finally merges into some sort of Thrash or Heavy Metal coda. And none of those parts sound misplaced!
It is a refreshing approach towards Death Metal, Escarion provide us with. The chasms of human existence may have been musicked a trillion times before, but this one is worth listening to. Escarion play autochthonous Technical Death Metal without excessively implementing melodic parts. Also, they do not fear letting a certain influence of Metalcore and Heavy Metal flow into their sound.

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