In certain strains of esotericism, an egregore is a concept by which a psychic entity manifests from the collective minds of a group. When it comes to Canadian trio Egregore their name could not be more apt. Conjured by the most occult and mystical corners of black and death metal, sophomore full-length It Echoes in the Wild is a mysterious entity all of its own. The band draw from a dense well of songcraft; the innovative, dynamic death metal of The Chasm infused with riffy, mysterious black metal a la Negative Plane and Mortuary Drape… yet this is just the tip of the iceberg. The end result is an album as dark and eerie as its thematic inspirations.

It Echoes in the Wild‘s greatest strength lies in its intensity, felt most acutely by the seamless transitions from track to track that are often not even noticeable. From start to finish Egregore assault the ears with a maelstrom of harsh riffs, turbulent shredding, and ferocious vocal performances courtesy of all three members (perhaps already familiar through Mitochondrion, Auroch, and more). The deepest foundations of the band lie in the early days of extreme metal that drew heavily from speed and thrash metal, but in the process of reaching the light of day has become bastardized by what we’d consider today black and death metal. As first single “Stair into the Vortex” demonstrates so well, Egregore very much don’t fit into easily compartmentalized genre categories. Sinister tremolo patterns one moment, chunky palm-muted riffs the next, the whole sound feels ready to fall apart at the seams at any moment courtesy of a frenetic drum performance from Essentia Collapse (aka Shawn Haché), a pseudonym as aptly named as the band.

Across the album a great feeling of unease is generated through just the seemingly simple (yet in actuality much harder to nail) trait of the drumming being just behind the beat, something I learned way back in high school jazz band was essential for that genre. While these styles could not be further apart, the drumming is the catalyst for an unsettling atmosphere that works in perfect conjunction with the ever-shifting riffs. Egregore are not exactly what I’d call a progressive metal band but are certainly a forward-thinking one, dedicated to linear songwriting that dares not dwell on a single riff for very long… if only to build suspense on tracks like “From the Yawning Crevasse Shrieks a Transmorphic Gale” and its meandering thrashy riff. Elsewhere the band show their penance for a bit of the odd by incorporating sounds such as ghostly whispers, eerie synths, and on “Craven Acts of Desperate Men” an unexpected homage to the King of the metal occult with falsetto vocals and snarling rasps.

The mixing and mastering on It Echoes in the Wild is handled by Arthur Rizk (Blood Incantation, Worm, Imperial Triumphant) and while the guitars can take a bit of a backseat to the very vocal- and snare-forward production, all this really does is add to the off-kilter nature. As darkly occult as the overall sound is, some of my favorite moments on the album come in the form of twisted melodicism on “Nightmare Cartographer”, “Six Doors Guard the Original Knowledges”, and elsewhere. Not too far removed from Predatory Light’s Death and the Twilight Hours, but given the underlying death metal edge is perhaps closer to counterpart band Superstition. Where aforementioned bands like Negative Plane or The Chasm incorporate softer moments of psychedelic or spacey atmosphere, Egregore instead remain at full steam ahead across the entirety of the album. Minor exceptions are an abrupt transition to a slower, highly melodic section replete with a soaring guitar solo on “Servants of the Second Death” and a brief classical guitar solo on the closing title track, a ten-minute epic that concludes the album in grandiose fashion befitting the best metal records.

Chaotic yes, but It Echoes in the Wild remains a consistent and refreshing experience throughout. It challenges the listener without any air of pretentiousness, while transforming styles that in their original forms may have been a bit sloppy into something dense and almost progressive. Eschewing current extreme metal trends that may hone in on dissonance or wildly “out-there” influences, it draws from the foundational sacred texts without sounding like a clone of any band that has come before. Some of the best metal of the present requires delving deep into the past, and Egregore do this in exactly the right way.

— Colin

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It Echoes in the Wild is available March 20 through 20 Buck Spin. For more information on Egregore, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.