Spreading as if a wave of corruption across every bit of soil and sky its wretched tendrils grace this sophomore full-length album from Vancouver, British Colombia-based thrashing black/death metal trio EGREGORE intends to expand the limits of their own madness and mania, fusing with unapologetically primal forces abounding in the process. Channeled from unspoken chambers and given wider berth to reap ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘ is doubly expansive in both sound design and its freely-stretched ouevre, a far more ambitious follow-up in every sense. As these fellowes once again cross the lines between obscure thrash and ancient blackened death it is their maniac hand(s) for curious detail which lend this second album its own admirably eclectic, multi-headed personae.

Egregore formed back in 2019 by way of Shawn Haché (Mitochondrion) and Sebastian Montesi (ex-Auroch) and their crew would grow to include bassist/vocalist Philip Fiess (ex-Funeral Chalice) beyond his session contributions to their debut LP. The style they’d brought to said first full-length album (‘The Word of His Law‘, 2022) wasn’t entirely coherent but it was an exciting release, intricate and energetic at every turn. The process of review was hype-inducing thanks to the duo’s occult-thrashing form of blackened death manifesting a diabolic heat-seeker wherein glued together vignettes were electrified and/or tripped out at every turn. References to everything from Nocturnus to Absu and even The Chasm meant it’d activated the good parts of my brain at the time though it hasn’t proven wildly memorable in the years since, likely per its extended dark ambient endpoint.

Yanked out from the dank basement-level must of yesterday and into the biting chill of the open air ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘ makes Egregore‘s previous album look like a tentative EP by direct comparison as a nearly fifty minute gnashing of teeth and smoke-spitting geist. In the process of developing their linearly chopped spasticity into more sizable, repeatable pieces they’ve compensated with increasingly abrupt pace and a lower level of reactivity applied between forces. Opener “Void on the West Wind” sports a tense and circularly thrashing statement, something like Morbid Angel or Insanity‘s exaggerations of speed metal taken to harder angled kinetic charge as they spin and cut through the piece. Acoustic guitars, prog-thrash refrains, layered synth and eerie leads help to maintain decorum within the spastic wrath of the piece but the structuring here is more rigid than expected off the bat.

Filling the cavernous resound of ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘ duly “Stair Into the Vortex” is the first high point of mania and potentially a more clear delivery upon the occult charm and riff-whipping knack which defines Egregore. Of course it is one of the shortest pieces on the album but that doesn’t detract from its impact upon the momentum of the full listen, a press through cascading finger-rolling riffs while at least two vocalists trade between Sadus-worthy snarl. The nigh seamless passage between the first four or so songs on this album help to build a strong sense of tension and despite the somewhat technical slashing through each. This leaves “Craven Acts of Desperate Man” landing as a sort of first peaking high for the full listen, carrying in some power-thrashing wails and extra-active basslines to amp and distort the energy of the piece. My favorite part of this piece comes as its insanity crests beyond the ~4:30 minute mark where walking basslines, chaotic dual rhythmic lines, and crookedly shredded leads build to a point of havoc and then release into a menacing thrash groove. Otherwise the vocal on said song, the whole array of expression deployed for that matter, is probably my favorite addition to the band’s ouevre overall this time around.

Maintaining such a level of acrobatic, finessed and confrontational expression is no doubt impressive and wholly entertaining to the point where most listeners will need/want multiple passes to appreciate the sheer level of biting detail applied to ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘. Production values ease some of this brain-tensing exhaust but not the pace, at least not until deeper fixated within Side B. We get a mild break from foaming-at-the-mouth assault with “Nightmare Cartographer”, a keyboard assisted death thrashing piece, which breaks from its roaring and scribbling cycle beyond its second minute before bopping into brief prog-metallic jubilance. Not only does this move inform the final third of the song but makes waves which tie into the piece which follows.

The only part of Egregore‘s second album which feels vestigial is “Servants of the Second Death“, a piece which is thrilling enough in its thrashing and snarling initiation (every song is) but generally lands as redundant where it is placed on the full listen. Group shouts are a nice touch but the dramatic rocking lead guitars which carry through most of the song seem far out of place within the scribbled thrust of ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘. The nearly ten minute closer/title track remedies this to some degree as a fittingly grand exit from their wind tunnel but it too resorts to extensive leads in order to match the rest of the album’s level of engagement. Though I don’t know that they’ve nailed the landing here so to speak I appreciate excess over filler when it comes to extreme metal in general.

For they are many… — It took quite a few listens to reckon with the density of ‘It Echoes in the Wild‘ despite its altogether reasonable length. Egregore‘s work here is compellingly thrashed-at, blackened and rooted in some manner of ancient death’s soul transposed yet they’ve not intended to too clearly define the collective self. The strangely amorphous, three-headed being depicted here provides a satisfyingly quick-witted and fast moving target to follow on successive listens yet I’m not sure I could manage a compelling enough ‘elevator pitch’ for the uninitiated. Either way you end up summing their presence it yet bears some compelling riffcraft, many brilliantly wilding tangents, and (again) an altogether entertaining whorl of occult energies beyond the norm. A high recommendation.

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