ENTHEOS
“i have no
fucking idea.” That’s the response we get from Chaney Crabb, the dynamic vocalist of Entheos, when we ask her to define her band’s headbending brand of heavy. “It’s a barrage of interesting sounds but wrapped up in a metal package.” She’s right, but defining the music Entheos make as “interesting” is sort of like calling Donald Trump “a slightly orange annoyance”. It nowhere near covers it.
Fusing jazz characteristics, atmospheric synths and grooving bass with frenzied solos and vocals that segue between guttural roars and what sounds like aliens coming through your bedroom window, they’re one of tech metal’s more sonically challenging propositions in a genre where bands are cooking up eclecticism on every corner.
entheos boast Former
members of some of the scene’s most prominent bands – Animals As leaders (drummer Navene Koperweis) and The Faceless (guitarist Evan Brewer) – and after the addition of ex-Scale The Summit guitarist Travis leVrier they packed themselves into a studio apartment for two weeks to write tracks for new album Dark Future. With so many techie brains in one very cramped space, it made for an intense experience.
“You would think that getting four different people in a room together would make for arguments and headbutting but it was so smooth,” says Chaney. “Our ideas just really aligned, no one let their ego get in the way. You can feel how inspired we were working on these songs. Those were two of the best weeks I’ve ever had in my life.”
It was a new writing process for the band, who had previously pieced together the songs for their debut, The Infinite Nothing, and Primal EP over email – astonishing when you consider the complexity of their apocalyptic sound. And while Navene had always been lead songwriter in the past, this time each of the members contributed equally. As a result, Dark Future feels like a much more cohesive piece of work: four minds pulling together in the same far-reaching direction. “I think there’s a lot of cohesion in songwriting that just didn’t work itself out on our previous releases,” agrees Chaney. “I feel like now more than ever we have a pretty clear vision of where we want to take this band. In the coming years and coming releases that’s where you’re going to see this band going, expanding more on the Entheos sound.”
Given that their sound is one that’s been deliberately crafted to take risks, transcend limits and disregard boundaries, Entheos have freed themselves from the restrains of expectation, ensuring that in the future they can take their music in any direction they want.
“Neither the band nor our listeners will be surprised at what comes next and I think that’s a really cool place to be in in this day in age,” agrees Chaney. “We stand for evolution, we stand for progression, for art. There’s no fucking box and that’s what art should be about at its core. That’s what we are all about.”
darK future Is out now vIa sPInefarM
“WE STAND FOR EVOLUTION,
PROgRESSION AND ART”