EPIPHANIC TRUTH, from the United Kingdom, was once described as "an artistic & musical collective, made up of an anonymous core group and external collaborators". This of course means that groups member's names are not known but what we do know is that their music has amalgamated influences of black metal, death metal and progressive metal. Other elements that can be heard are doom metal, chamber music, ambient and electronic music.

Their album which is called DARK TRIAD: BITTER PSALMS TO A SORDID SPECIES presents to us a more avant-garde approach, where the band combines progressive influences together with experimental or more innovative techniques in music production. This is the group's debut album which features a guest appearance by a drummer known as WILFRED HO who is from the city of Hong Kong (China). He would have played all the drum and percussion parts for the album. This Chinese sensation is also well known for being associated with other acts including QOLLISION, NEFELIBATA and KARMACIPHER.

The album starts off with "The Truth Of The Beast" opening with a fast progressive section with all instruments. The vocals symbolize the themes of satanic, demonic possession and impending doom hence the gloomy influence of ambience and black metal. The drums significantly bring out the dynamics of this track, especially the transitions between the various sections. The distortion of the guitar, bass and other sounds are in some kind of disarray but very well produced particularly the computer generated sounds that are astounding. The ending begins to soften the overall master volume with more percussive effects, mellow guitar and computer based sounds.

The seconda track following up what we heard already is "An Inescapable Verdict" as the intro is a mix of sampled sounds and soundscape of ambient noises quickly transcending into pure psychedelic mania. The drums are trimmed back and don't become too excessive while the vocals are evil and wild as before. The distorted guitar and thumping lower end frequencies which both carry the melody and tone of this track. The avant-garde sound is a reminder of what this group can produce along with the warped vocals which sound filtered out to allow mid range frequencies to stand out.

Progressing onto the next musical passage with more sinister and ominous touches to the tonality of this track only for vocals to return. Nevertheless this can only go so far, as the elements come to an end with a more organic approach to close this track. The final segment of this album is also the longest running track at approximately 22 minutes. "Our Vile Roots Flourish Beyond Light" begins with what we finished from the previous track, a more organic sound with guitar effects and ambient noises filling the high end of the audio spectrum. The lyrical content is less excessive as the vocals become more present, the ambient sound of the instrumental sections brings in a sound more like PINK FLOYD from their work in the 70's and 80's. The synthetic gestures are well produced and the crescendo with guitar flows very smoothly within the mix.

The next section of this track clocking in around 8 mins, starts to pulsate and we hear raging guitar lines. Progressive sound of vocals and bass is back to the forefront of the track. This excerpt goes from ambient to dangerous and gives me the aspects of heavy metal and other similar bands. The remainder of this track varies between the ambient soundscape and progressive continuity. The demonic vocals come back one last time, with double kick drumming and distortion we heard in the beginning of this album.

This is definitely an eye-opener for me, it shows what is possible going into the more exploratory and darker side of metal. I have to say it's an album that will stand out more for artistic expression and climatic sections for which it is strong.