Metal Riot

Ephel Duath are no more, according to virtuoso/mastermind Davide Tiso in a long Facebook post (reprinted after the jump). The band went through various incarnations and styles but was always compelling (understatement). There is no word yet if this means Tiso will be devoting his creative energy full time into wife Karyn Crisis’ Gospel Of The Witches endeavor, who recently signed with Century Media. Best of wishes to Davide with whatever the future holds.

Read the at times rather cryptic statement here.

“If you feel you put 100% into something, how can you feel regrets or disappointments? Sure, sometimes it gets annoying when people don’t get what you are trying to express but how can someone else’s point of view make you feel down about yourself if you know you gave your best? This is one of the biggest lessons to apply to life and art, and I’m doing it with relative success”-Davide Tiso.

The above quote is food for thought but also far too modest once you hear Ephel Duath mastermind Davide Tiso’s latest monster prog-metal EP. “On Death And Cosmos” (Agonia Records) features three soul shattering, mind liberating songs that twist and turn and regurgitate your mind out the other side. You’ll feel like you melded with dark matter or entered the negative zone or something. It’s jarring and massive stuff.

The best music takes you back to when you first heard it. I hear “Strange Television” by Dax Riggs and remember gazing out the window of the Lower West Side apartment where I used to live drinking malbec and dreaming of a woman. I hear the warm guitars of “Rocket” by Smashing Pumpkins and lose myself in the summers of my youth. “Toxicity” by System Of A Down brings back the metallic fear of 9/11 America. Similarly, “On Death And Cosmos” will rivet you and etch the time and place into your skin like a tattoo.

I talked to Davide Tiso and wife (vocalist) Karyn Crisis about the EP, the amazing line-up of themselves plus Steve DiGiorgio and Marco Minnemann, working with producer Erik Rutan (Cannibal Corpse, Agnostic Front) and more. Karyn even talks about her recently painted Major Arcana.

Click HERE to read the interview.