Hailing from California, USA, Technical Heavy Metal band ENTHEOS present their sophomore release "Dark Future," which contains ten tracks, via Spinefarm Records. The band members have been involved in several notable acts in their time as musicians, including ANIMOSITY, THE FACELESS, ANIMALS AS LEADER, and SCALE THE SUMMIT. They wanted to evolve their sound a bit more, with Evan and Travis doing more of the songwriting, and being together in one place in order so share more at the time of writing and recording. Following their critically acclaimed debut "The Infinite Nothing," let's dive into the new release and hear for ourselves!

"Black Static" is the leading track. It has a terse opening, with clean guitar notes and light percussion with some background noise, followed by deep Death vocals in a clouded and dusky sound. Turning on a dime, some eerie higher pitched vocals come over a bed of punchy rhythms, taking the track to completion. "White Noise" has a similar opening; an ominous and mysterious sound with some nimble lead guitar work over those throaty vocals that are thick with effects. They sound almost non-human, as if coming from a Cyborg or outer world being. The trippy passage at the end is definitely alien in nature. "Melancholia" is a bit longer and you can hear some of the influences of earlier bands that they were involved in...those charged and driving rhythms that highlight the band's technical abilities. A sweet and relaxing passage rears its head; quite unexpected but beautifully placed.

"Pulse of a New Era" has a marked intensity from some really incredible musicianship. Many of the chord progressions are dissonant but the speed and method at which they are applied will surely impress you. There are also some prominent bass guitar parts here as well, which really establish that bottom end heaviness. Chaney's vocals are as brutal as they come. "Sea of Symmetry" has some thick and unyielding rhythms that are just punishing in nature. Some electronica and lead guitar breaks bring in some speckles of melody that are a nice addition to the grueling nature of the song, and some percussion pyrotechnics highlight Navene's skills on the kit. Timekeeping could be the most difficult thing to do in music like this, and he really holds down that fort will all his resolve. When you think things could not possible become any tighter, the dense and tenacious track "Sunshift" is here to prove otherwise. The timing and accents are just what you would call perfection. Like gears working behind the scene to power a watch, what is produced in the end is impeccable. "Suspended Animation" is the odd track on the album in terms of its length, at over six minutes. The intensity of this kind of music doesn't lend itself to longer compositions, as their limbs could possibly fall off as a casualty. What they do in this song however is a few different styles of passages that connect the brutality with some more ambient moments where they allow the music to breathe.

"Resonance" is a three-minute closing instrumental. In keeping with that feeling for me of the album coming from a distant planet, and from advanced life forms, it's a pretty track that reminds you that the band has a creamy center under that hardened shell of titanium. ENTHEOS have created a masterful work of Technical Metal here with "Dark Future." Superlative and dexterous rhythms abound under the ardent sting of Chaney's vocals that are just relentless. You couldn't program a machine to be more efficient in this regard. Yet, they invite you in from the cold and unforgiving elements with some morsels of melody and serene passages, where you can catch your breath and marvel at moments of beauty that rise above the darkness as a beacon. The production is absolutely stellar as well!