Review: Amenra ‘With Fang And Claw’ EP
When the PR notes contain a quote from Amenravocalist Colin H. Van Eeckhout suggesting the new two track EP With Fang And Claw is the predecessor for the upcoming Mass VII album, then there is only one thing to do. (Insert fan girl scream) That’s right, binge listen to the first six Mass albums!
The hexalogy of the Mass albums holds some of the most influential songs for me personally and there is always a hunger to revisit the music. It doesn’t matter what mood I’m in as I can turn on an Amenra track to get hyped up or relax. Hell, I’ve even put on From Birth To Grave From Shadow To Light at work to concentrate on mundane paperwork. Now, when searching for a track to put on, With Fang And Claw adds two new songs to my reservoir of Amenra songs.
Forlorn opens this two-track EP by easing you in with a serene soundscape before the soul-crushing force crashes through the speakers. Some tracks from previous releases, like From Birth To Grave…mentioned above, along with Aorte. Nous Sommes Du Mèmes Sang, or Boden, have a gradual rise and fall like the rolling hills of the Cotswolds (for my friends in the UK), whereas Forlorn drops suddenly, like the vertical cliffs of the Himalayas. The change in dynamics is so sudden that it seems the vocals don’t have time to catch up the first time around, and the gut-wrenching screams continue over the serene music.
Salve Mater begins with explosive force and maintains that intensity for the first half of the song. The album cover pays homage to Mass I and I feel the intensity on this EP matches it, as I always thought that album had the highest energy of their previous releases. Salve Mater also follows a similar format (not that Amenra has one) to songs like Ode To A Broken Doll or Hibernate as they are strong throughout with a tranquil bridge.
Even in a short fourteen-minute EP, Amenra make the release feel larger than life and packs in tons of raw emotion. It revisits the band’s history (which should appeal to the fans of ‘play the old stuff’) while simultaneously showing the band’s future. An impressive feat that, of course, they tackle with ease.
If both Forlorn and Salve Mater lay the groundwork for Mass VII, then we are about to be bombarded by a Mass-ive album.
Label: Relapse Records
Band Links: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Josh Schneider
