From their record label’s website, “Merging elements pulled from countless genres – including death metal, groove, grunge, electronica, slam, gothic rock, jazz, prog and more – and pushing progressive death metal in ever more imaginative directions, ENTHEOS continues to progress with each new release. Comments vocalist Chaney Crabb on their latest output, “An End to Everything‘s” title and lyrics are significant on a personal level and depict an era in my life that ended with the death of a close friend because of addiction. This person had thrived in life against many odds, but ultimately succumbed as a result of their own poor decisions. “An End to Everything” is about the nature of the darkness of life and the human experience.”

The EP has five songs, and the title track is first. The sound is aggressive, contentious, and Progressive. There are softer moments as well, but they are more like temporary moments of levity among the brutal punishment and torture. “All for Nothing” has blast beat drums fueling the dark and choppy riffs which are animated, and ever-moving. The chorus pulls in a slower expanse of sound that breathes a little, but this is combative and threatening music. “Life in Slow Motion” has more a sectioned out sound in terms of the heavy accents of the riffs, and the cadence in the vocals. The chord progressions are unusual at times as well, but the song comes together as a cohesive whole.

“A Thousand Days” begins with a clear but dark melody line. It crawls at first, staying out of the light, and then attacks with thousands of fanged teeth. The vocals vary from gutturals, to screams, and even cleans, and the melody opens up in the chorus, but it’s somber. “Return to Me” is the closing song, and it’s both brutal and Progressive in the same breath. The heavy elements are tempered just enough with other things like melody and Progressive time signatures to keep it from falling completely into the abyss, but it does flirt with that action.

The album has very personal themes that reflect the shock in losing someone that you care deeply about, yet in some ways, you could already see the ending all painted out for you. But it doesn’t make the sting any less painful. You could clearly hear that pain reflected in the music. It is angry and raging, but very well controlled, and although it offered a variety of influences, the central theme was torture for me…the torture that comes with loss.