Entheos have followed-up their 2016 debut CD with “Dark Future,” released November 11, 2017 on Spinefarm Records. Less than 18 months between two full-length CDs you ask? Chaney Crabb (vocals), Navene Koperweis (drums, ex-Animals as Leaders, Animosity), and Evan Brewer (bass, ex-The Faceless, Animosity) have returned including new guitarist Travis LeVrier (guitar, ex-Scale the Summit) for 10 tracks of heavy, rhythmic, atmospheric, syncopated and dark contemporary extreme metal (no clean singing, FYI).

Just as with my review of “The Infinite Nothing,” I must again give props to Chaney and the vocals here. This is a metal vocal buffet – guttural/death metal vocals, shrieked/black metal vocals, and now including computerized/effected vocals which does lend a certain creepy/sci-fi vibe which plays well into the title of Dark Future.

Anyone familiar with Evan Brewer’s solo CD “Your Itinerary” or Navene K’s solo material will recognize the trademark bass sounds and electronic treatments (respectively) and these attributes add a depth to “Dark Future” that kicks the experience into the next level (i.e. intro and middle of track 4, middle of 6, middle of 7, 10).

Once again, Brewer’s bass tone which is a partial result of Brewer’s right hand playing style is a testament to his originality, tastefulness and adaptability – this is the funk-metal bass 2.0 you were looking for. Travis LeVrier quit his long-lasting full-time position as guitarist with Scale the Summit to join Entheos in 2016. If that doesn’t say enough right there, the solos you’ll find placed within “Dark Future” display the elegance of LeVrier’s style which offer a comfortable respite from the metal brutality.

Eyebrow-raising moments? Tracks 4, 6 -> 7, 8. This is the “new jeans which are fashionable but also happen to fit super well” of 2017 metal releases.

Rating: 8.2/10

Tracklist:

1. Black Static (I)
2. White Noise (II)
3. Melancholia
4. Pulse of a New Era
5. Sea of Symmetry
6. Inverted Earth (I)
7. Sunshift (II)
8. Suspended Animation
9. The World Without Us
10. Resonance

Label: Spinefarm Records
Facebook: www.facebook.com/entheosband