This new EP from up-and-coming Austrian melodic death metal outfit, EYES IN THE VOID, shows a promising start to a band that proves their dedication to melodic death metal in a very short amount of time. Each song on this release stands as proof that these young men have a lot of potential to be new face of the twenty-first century of death metal.

Even just from the first track, "Run", when you hear that long, extended scream from lead singer Phillip Bock, EYES IN THE VOID show that all of their hard work pays off for the audience. Taking queues of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, LAMB OF GOD & SHADOWS FALL, EYES IN THE VOID debut as a melodic death metal and metalcore force to be reckoned with. The band packs a very impressive musical arsenal that are forged and tempered to the sharpest strengths possible.

It was this humble editor's idea that this kind of music had grown stale and old by this time. Five years ago, this kind of music was so commonplace that something like this wouldn't stand out very much to me. But now that the huge tidal wave of metalcore bands is ebbing back to the sea, bands like EYES IN THE VOID come off as refreshing and inoffensive for me. These guys are very talented and their music shows huge promise if they can outdo themselves with what's been recorded on this self-titled EP.

The last two tracks, "Words of Violence" and "Death Awaits" really bring me back to the early 2000's when there was still metalcore that was honestly influenced by real, original metal bands. Like JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN, the guitars and drums stand out as the enforcers of power and domination in melody and rhythm but all the while, there is a hardcore punk attitude kept along with all the flashy lead solos and drum gymnastics.

I am going to give this EP a very strong, confident seven out of ten because, although the band is quite excellent at what they do, what they're doing is well-tread territory. As I've mentioned earlier, metalcore and deathcore reached their peak in popularity a decade ago so nothing EYES IN THE VOID are doing here is new at all. But at least what EYES IN THE VOID are doing, they are accomplish with flawless efficiency.
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