Escher’s Knot- Tessellations
May 22, 2010 by Vilasini Muralidhar
Filed under Indian Albums, Reviews
It takes a band a minimum of a few years to get themselves noticed in India. But let me introduce you to an act that was formed only in mid 2009, and right now, in May 2010, have already carved a nice little comfortable spot for themselves on the list of best metal acts in our country at the moment. From the city of Chennai, here’s presenting to you- Escher’s Knot.
You could call them a supergroup of sorts, because each band member is, or was previously associated with another metal act. But trust me on this one- Escher’s Knot is nothing like what you’ve heard before. There are no traces of Blood and Iron or Third Sovereign in their music, which is, very bluntly put, original, hard hitting metal.
The band released their debut EP ‘Tessellations’ on the 14th of May. If you were at the release gig or at Summer Storm, you might have caught a sneak preview of the album there. But here’s what I suggest you do. Buy the album, insert it in your CD player and turn up the volume. And I’m sure after the thirty odd minutes of ‘Tessellations’, you’ll be sitting there with a crick in the neck, and looking like a disheveled metalhead who’s just gotten thrown out of a violent mosh pit, though you’ve been sitting at your desk all the while. And you’d know quite well that it’s just the first sign of a killer album.
‘Tessellations’ opens with “Hyperspace”- a three-minute instrumental. It starts off with a feeling of floating underwater, when the echoing strings come to keep you company. And the build-up leads to a curtain opener with an orchestral conglomeration of all the instruments. Surprisingly, you’ll hear some keyboards as well, that run as a parallel melody with the intense riffing in the background.
This leads you to “Anonymous origins”. The evil guitar paves the way for the vocals, which switch from the deep-throated growls to the screeches. The song’s got a crazy (for lack of a better word) riff, and goes into a breather in the middle, and then leads you into the latter half, chunkier and crazier than the beginning. “Up for nothing” is another mix of odd-timings and slow, melodic interludes. Double bass takes off in full form in this track, and the screeches are longer too. (Don’t try this at home, or anywhere else. It’s guaranteed vocal-cord damage).
To hell with 2012. That’s the motto of “Mayan Calendar”. It’s a really strangely patterned song, and I think that’s what I love most about it! Nice varying rhythms throughout, with drums going on a little blast beat trip midway as well. Post 03:40, the song takes off on a completely different direction before it winds up. And finally, my favourite- “Break the cypher”. This song describes all that’s typical of Escher’s Knot- weird time signatures, insane dexterity, and hellish heaviness. “Saidapet score”, another instrumental piece, wraps up ‘Tessellations’. This serves as buffer time for you to get back into reality, and try to recollect what just hit you.
If you’ve come so far in reading my review, it’s not hard to guess how much I’d rate the album. Brilliant music, kickass production and 100% originality deserves a big thumbs up. Escher’s Knot scores, and how! This is Indian metal, taken to a whole new level. Congratulations fellows, for ‘Tessellations’. The album proves you all to be not just superb sound engineers (which your institute should be proud of) but uber-talented musicians as well. Here’s one solid “\m/” to you, and with that, I’ll wrap up the review, and hit the ‘Replay’ button on my CD player.
Rating: 4 / 5
Listening to the album now. This is fucking awesome!
Mediocre album. Fanboi review. And EK doesn't sound metal. And somewhere on this site you guys called them "Technical Death Metal". Please! Do they sound anywhere similar to Cynic, Death, Suffocation, Immolation, Cryptopsy? These guys are plain metalcore. The vocalist's best work was with Ston'd. Bassy fits better on vocals with Theorized. This site needs better reviewers and interviews. Everyone seems biased and seem to be genre-illiterate monkeys.
Fahad- Thanks for your feedback. Why don't you review for us if you think this isn't good enough? It's surprising that people like you criticize so easily, but don't actually take any initiative to do something for the scene. We would really like to have your point of view, so please… go ahead and write for us!
Sure I wouldn't mind. Will you pay me for that? If I have to listen to a lot of music, most of which I'm sure I wouldn't like, the pay better be good. And yes – despite reservations about certain bands orgenres, I'll give u a perfectly neutral review. Cheers.
Music you don't like? Ha ha.
We're not here to preach arrogance or dismiss bands. We're here to support them. Since you seem too high and mighty for this sort of thing, I think we're better off without your "services". And also because people like you refuse to look beyond money in anything, don't complain about the little that we are doing. No more on this. Cheers.
You're here to support bands? Sounds good. If you think you're supporting bands by giving them all excellent reviews – or rather giving the bands that you know well or play the genre YOU like good reviews is not how you go about it. You may run the website alongside your guy. Good. That doesn't automatically mean you're a good writer and you give fair and unbiased reviews. See, that's where you're lacking. I've seen both sides of how this can be totaly detrimental here. I've read several reviews on this site, and it seems more like you're absolutely partial to the bands you like and dismiss others. That's fanboi mentality. Secondly, the bands that you review are subject to critique (naturally), but can't seem to take critique about your writing here. That's hypocrisy. Hire good writers. Hari Shenoy (from RSJ) goes freelance (if I'm not mistaken). His write-ups are the best I've read, and he seems to be the only one who can pull this off. And yes, if someone takes time from their daily routine and day-jobs to do a write-up, they deserve to be paid. Nobody is a philantropist. I was very happy when this site was started up thinking that we finally have one of our own to rival Encyclopedia Metallum, Metalstorm, etc. Where you lack and they score is the fact that they're very credible. I wouldn't bother commenting here at all. This is just constructive criticism for you to do better with your site. Cheers!
P.S.: Fire the guy who wrote the article reviewing the LOG gig. Definite poser. Plus I dunno what he has against North Indians or North Indian bands. "They talk a lot onstage"? Has this guy even watched bands like IIIrd Sovereign, Exhumation, Acrid Semblance, Narsil, etc. play live? He seems a definite poser to me. The whole "Bangalore bands own" thing was relevant till 3 years back. We're only getting more -core bands and LOG ripoffs here. I'm a Bangalorean, but ashamed of this fact. Plus, it was yet another fanboi review.
Fahad, I agree with what you're saying. The best way to support the scene is by giving REAL reviews. Not partial fanboi type ones. But what's wrong with this review and the band? I personally LOVE the album and I think the music is awesome. You ask if the band sounds like Cynic, Cyptopsy and Immolaation but even between those 3 bands, there's a world of a difference, right from the vocals to the drumming to the actual sound of the band. You can even add bands like Necrophagist and Brain Drill and they all sound so different yet fall under the technical death metal tag. On this EP, the drumming, the riffing, the basslines and the vocals sound nothing like what is so typical of metalcore and IMO definitely fall under the technical death metal tag.
And well, look everyone have their likes and dislikes. Vilasini listened to the album, loved it and wrote a review praising it. Someone else (like you for example) who may not have liked it and wouldve given a negative review. But does that mean we're fanbois? For giving positive reviews for music that we actually find very good?
And crediblity, well, thats something which comes with time and reputation. Headbangers India is just over a year old and still growing. We take your criticism, no doubt and we shall work towards improving the standards of the site.
Madhav, amongst the Tech Death bands I mentioned, except for Cynic (who're way more experimental), there are a lot of similarities. Beyond the obvious similarities like the guitar sound, blast beats, very technical riffing, guttural vocals, crazy basslines, etc., there is a little something that's inexplicable that makes a listener with a trained ear know what is what. Whether you're listening to Cannibal Corpse or Suffocation or Cryptopsy (older, I mean) or Psycroptic or Quo Vadis, the feel is the same despite the varied styles of playing. And somehow, now and then, you'll just get the feeling of them having been influenced by Venom, Slayer, Hellhammer, Bathory, or even older bands like Sabbath. There is that linkage that you can definitely trace back and you'll probably know what I'm talking about. Amidst all that, if you turn on, say, Lamb of God or As I Lay Dying, the feel changes immediately. Randy Blythe growls, Chris Adler's drumming is incredibly technical and their riffs sound heavy. Does that make them Tech Death? For a fact, lots of novices around 2006-07 were calling LOG death metal. Quite appalling, actually. I've seen EK at a couple of shows in Chennai. Even their guitar tone isn't that of extreme metal. In fact, it kinda reminds me of the tone LOG has in 11th Hour (I dunno which album, couldn't care less, but have watched that video and listened to the song). In fact, when EK were newly formed, even they called themselves metalcore or mathcore.
Don't get me wrong. I don't hate those guys. They seem really nice. The drummer's pretty good and I've always said this – the vocalist is good enough to play for a brutal death band – his pipes are fucking insane! But as a band, I really can't get my head around all their hype. And yes, please be very careful when you're tagging bands with genres. In fact, you can lose a truckload of credibility because you put your finger on the wrong genre. Cheers!
@Vilasini – Sorry to get on your case again but you just said ' Why don’t you review for us if you think this isn’t good enough? ' I'm really sorry but that is an extremely lame comeback. Its like tomorrow you give a band a bad review for their music and tell you ' of i u think u can play better why dont u show us how to write music'. Get what I'm saying??
And I completely agree with Fahad that a lot of reviews on headbangers.in are very in the fanboy review zone. Same goes for other Indian Indie websites just so you know I'm not singling you guys out. I love, respect and praise your effort into creating this site, but now its time to take it up to level 2.
@Madhav – Sorry buddy, I respect you but if you think EK is death metal from any angle you need to get back to listening to some real death metal. Its no better than a kid who was saying 'dude korn is death metal na?'
I know your an EK fanboi (nothing to be ashamed of) and you love the band and its great that you are promoting them because they do deserve it. But at least don't call em death metal from any angle, they have a lot of the metalcore and djent in their sound, definite influence of bands like Textures and stuff.
EK has a lot of traces of Metalcore,which I think can be credited to their influence,but as a band they cannot be called Metalcore,well because their music isn't straight forward and repetitive. Technical Death again,I'm not so sure about,there's not much technicality in the riffs and/or bass lines. They could however be classified as Djent (could),I'm a newb in this,as I cannot stand Djent Metal,unless they're more inclined towards Death Metal like Meshuggah and Textures. But when you listen to Anonymous you get that Djenty feeling with the odd time drumming and all,hence the suggestion.
And NO,LOG review doesn't seem poser-ish one bit. So he doesn't like north indians,well that's his taste and has the freedom to express his distaste! I find it annoying too,especially when songs are written in hindi and bear hindi titles (ever seen a B'lore band write lyrics in Kannada?) That being said however,Narsil and III Sovereign are the country's finest Death Metal bands we've seen till date and kudos to that. And B'lore isn't the only place which has so called LOG rip-off bands,Abraxas isn't exactly a Brutal Death Band you know,and there's many more Core bands from Mumbai and Pune that need not be mentioned.
Guys ther's nothing known as technical metal!!
We're just METAL!!
@fahad!! m/
cheers mate!!
Fahad is spot on. This is a complete fanboy review not to mention a highly ignorant one. It's one thing to praise the bands you love but to call this 100% original is just taking things too far. A statement like just smacks of pure ignorance.
The album is decent at best. The vocals are atrocious. Not only do they not fit the music in my opinion, they are incredibly humdrum, monotonous and just plain annoying. The riffs are good in parts and some of the song structures are interesting but it's just a mish mash of mediocre metalcore and some fairly technical extreme/modern metal.
There is nothing original about this. There are innumerable deathcore/matchcore/djent bands that sound like this and do it a whole lot better although the end result is still left wanting.
It's also detrimental to your site that the reviewer can't seem to take any criticism, especially valid criticism. Telling someone to 'write themselves if they can do better' is just rubbish. If you don't want people to criticize you then do away with the commments option because it just seems like you and your site just want people to praise each other to kingdom come.
thing is everyone's trying to prove some genre of music they love is cooler than the other ….thats ASSHOLE mentality …..if u love death then dont talk about djent sarcastically nd vice versa …..this site has great reviews …however the lamb of god review was the worst iv ever read….
The EP is awesome!
Live drums went well with it.
The guitars sounded great.
The vocals were ok.
The bass was nice.
The drums were awesome!
Listen to the songs to find more about it.
Cheers!
who the fuck is Fahad.
suck my dick……who the hell r u to say such things about someones work……i think its owesome……….great work……..keep it up……..
^^^Hey asshole, the same way I can ask who the fuck you are for praising this average album.
It works both ways moron.
Mod here,
Please stop fighting
It's each and everyone's own view and perception.Some may like it,some may not.
Fighting with each other makes no difference,instead you destroy the hard work that has been put up by the site as well as the band!
It's a sincere request from Headbangers India:
Post your opinion on the Single/EP/Album.You are absolutely free to do that!
Give suggestions to make it better(if you have any).We'd love to hear from you.
Since some time,I have been noticing that you all have been fighting over silly topics.Please avoid it!It'll be a great help to us.And instead shitting on the band,give them suggestions on making the band sound better so that the next time they release something.It'll be better than their previous releases.
I hope I don't get to see people fighting for stupid reasons again
Peace out!
Sid
Essentialblend, you're a mod?
Yes sir,Im a mod at the forums,which have been temporarily removed.
Mr Essentialblend
How does people fighting destroy the sites hard work? Maybe if the reviewers listened to valid feedback your site would be a lot better in the first place.
And why should a band listen to suggestions from us to sound better? Didn't you just say whether a band sounds good or not depends on one's own perception? If a band listened to your advice they'd confuse themselves to death.
This is your 'feedback' for this album
The EP is awesome!
Live drums went well with it. (WTF)
The guitars sounded great.
The vocals were ok.
The bass was nice.
The drums were awesome!
What kind of an opinion/feedback is that? You sound like my dad giving feedback on Slayer.
Seriously why don't you guys change your sites name from Headbangers to Hippie Bangers.
@Morpheus-
That was my opinion,the way how I found them.
Well I did'nt tell you not to give your opinion.But go a bit easy on your language man.
And suggestions are not hard-to-death compulsory.They can pick up suggestions which they feel would help them.You are confusing opinions with suggestions here Mr.Matrix Ripoff.
Dude,I'd seriously like you to go easy on people or stop commenting.
About my review-That was a very short review which I thought about giving.If you have a problem with it,then stop making useless comments please!
kthxbai! and please try going a bit easy on your comments mate.
Cheers!
And yeah about
"How does people fighting destroy the sites hard work? Maybe if the reviewers listened to valid feedback your site would be a lot better in the first place."
It really makes the writers feel hesitant on writing reviews because they know that some bunch of definite people like you,sire,are going to start your useless commenting again!
Get the point why there are less "very good reviewers and writers" nowadays?
Please close the topic here!
kthxbai!
Morpheus, please continue giving feedback, no matter how scathing it may be. As writers for the site, we need to know where to improve..
Cheers!
Bah!
Continue!
Thanks Madhav. At least someone has some cojones on this site unlike Mr. Essentialblend who seems to love doing Katrina Kaif impersonations.
Lame!
Try bit more harder next time sire!
Wow!!!
What a debate just for an album review. First of all I dunno if any of you looked up the band's profile, but here are the below links to the band:
http://www.reverbnation.com/eschersknot
the above link titles it metal/progressive metal/death metal
while the below link describes the band as having technical riffing with heavy bass lines???
http://www.myspace.com/eschersknot
So first of all those who are debating the genre of the band, clarify it with the band direclty as to which genre do they categorize themselves under.
For those who are agsinst the music of the band and the review of the album, think of your own ability to compose such music and create an album. And if you think you are capable, then create an album and prove to this website and India that you are better than this band and the author would be glad to praise your hardwork into making an album. If you do not have any such abilities, then take your disgusting, slangy comments out of this website and put it on a website where filthy tongues like you exist and the word respect does not exist in that website's/forum's/blog's dictionary. And people who did not like the music, please do not comment of your dislike to discourage the band. Just support the band whose music you favor the most and ignore the bands you dont like.
Comment Smartly.
'Bit more harder' ??????
This is the level of English showcased on this site and you expect people not to diss you lot. Amazing.
@Siddharth
"Suck my dick"? That's what your dad told you.
"i think its owesome……….great work……..keep it up……" That's what your mum told you after you flunked English (and other subjects) and brought the report card home.
Seriously, kid. Talk not what you know naught about. And attend English tuitions for your sake. And don't repeat dinner-table conversations here, please.
Guys like Siddharth make me ashamed of using the internet.
@ Fahad – Just for old times' sake, how's the camel humping going, you sand nigger?
Lol…. you idiots stop fighting and go write make some music…. or maybe get an icecream first….
Eschers knot was a wall of sound when i heard them last = thumbs up…. reviews don make a damn difference….
Led zepp had a single paragraph review to their album which had stairway(forget the name)…. people take themselves too seriously…. like bloody engineering students(myself included)…. lol…. thought we turned to music to get away from all that shit….anyway don bother countering this…. cos i don give a flying fuck…. even if you like to go around at night stealing demons from innocent citizens….
UMMM,can I end the whole genre debate here? When I bought the album at the LoG gig there were 2 members of the band selling it and when I asked them what music they play,they said 'Groove Metal with progressive touches'.I thought that was spot on and they do sound a lot like Gojira.I personally liked the album but yes,this particular review sounded a bit biased.
@Morpheus-Dude,your comments are absolutely useless.Are'nt you one of the guys who bring down the "so-called level" of the site???
Shut the fuck up mate.
@Ganesh- +1 ,that's something I would have said,but simple language does'nt make sense to some people here,leave alone your detailed explanation heh!
END THIS DEBATE HERE!
Peace!
@Ananth
Do I know you? Camel humping? Sand nigger? You've got me wrong, mate. You probably know someone else by the same name. My name actually rhymes with Fahad and my friends call me that because of the goatee
@Essentialblend
No pal, YOU shut the fuck up with your Brady Bunch preaching. All you want is a bunch of people on this site who will constantly say good things about the bands you review and the reviewers themselves no matter how poor the output really is. THAT'S pathetic.
By the way it's AREN'T and DOESN'T (just for your information since you need a crash course in grammar)
Some mod.
LOL,dude
"Well I didn't tell you not to give your opinion.But go a bit easy on your language man."
Seems,your black supercool shades are blocking your visibility.Get things right first and then comment.Why does my English matter to you?I'm happy with my stuff.Do you have a problem with that??I don't waste anybody's time and space.So shut up.
I'm really getting irritated now with your useless comments,I'll have to take some action against you if you don't stop now.
Give your true opinion,but be a bit easy on your language.That's what I mean.
Cheers.
^^^You're going to take action against me? OH MY GOD. I'm practically trembling with fear. Please Mr. Moderator go easy on me.
Get a life. Seriously.
It's funny how you tell me to go easy on my language when you're the one who told me to shut the fuck up in the first place. Hypocrite.
A pre dominantly rock/metal site telling people to mind their language. What next? No listening to Pantera because Phil Anselmo swears a lot? Seriously FUCK YOU.
And in case you haven't noticed I've given perfectly valid and useful feedback on other reviews on this site. I've also given props to people who deserve it and trashed those who don't (like you for example). That's the way I roll and I don't have to conform to your bullshit idea of a utopian website where everyone gives each other hand jobs round the clock.
Guys…just chill!
EK is a bad band? ok.
EK is a good band? ok.
Stop.
We'd stopped a week before you decided to be Dalai Llama and butt in.
@ semendealer(get the pun???)
ROFL.
first get some unity in this scene guys ….. this metal is never growing in this country due to the fucking politics nd fulll time bitching about each other bands ……start fucking work together … support each other ….nd build up a heavy ground in this country…..
cheers…
If this goes on, Headbangers' forums will start to look like YouTube video comments. Morpheus, swearing doesn't make you look metal, sorry. Neither does being a troll. So you can put your penis away now, no one's looking.
The EP on the other hand was great! Vocals could have been worked on a bit more IMO, but the instruments were insane. And to record THOSE drum patterns live would not have been an easy task. Hats off to Manu, seriously. I DO agree that Vilasini's review seemed a bit fanboy-ish at a few points, but if you're going to buy the EP based on this review, go ahead.
See that was MY view on the EP. Is it hurting anyone? No. So next time, leave it at that. nAnd the genre battles made me LOL. As long as they fall under METAL, why give a fuck whether they are tech death or djent or djent death or death djent?
Seriously, stop whining. If you really have to categorize, call it what you want cause it's a real fucking task to put these guys under a specific subgenre! 
Cheers