Eave - Fervor

Angry Metal Guy

Back in the autumn of 2020, I reviewed Eave’s sophomore album, Phantoms Made Permanent. At the time, I remember Holdeneye messaging me, after completing his editorial duties on the piece, to congratulate me on having the fortitude to make it through the whole album. However, despite Holdy’s disdain for this Connecticut quartet (they were then based in Portland, Maine), I liked Phantoms quite a lot. To the tune of 3.5, in fact. I will admit that I have not gone back to the record since, although listening to it in preparing for this review, I am not really sure why. It’s a very good atmoblack album, with nods to the likes of Falls of Rauros but also a slight DSBM edge, particularly in the vocals. And I stand by my scoring of it. How does now album Fervor stand up?

The almost three years that have passed since Eave’s last album has not seen a dramatic change in style but rather several refinements, including in terms of the songwriting and the production. At its core, Fervor remains an atmospheric black metal record but the melodic elements of Eave’s sound have been upped significantly, without sacrificing the harshness. There is still that morose, wretched edge to a lot of bassist Brian Tenison’s vocals that I associate with DSBM as much as with atmoblack but Tenison’s bass is more prominent in the sound, adding a thick groove to the eddying mix of tremolos and slower chord progressions. Building on the tones they borrow from the likes of Falls of Rauros, the band has also built in more of those dreamy passages, which are used to bridge the gaps between the harsher, darker sections. On some tracks, like “Bending the Light,” it feels like Eave is heading for a post-metal, Pelican-esque build, while on others (“Mirroring”), there’s maybe something of the melodic post-hardcore ethos of Burst.

Fervor by Eave

And Eave has done good job of stitching these different components of their sound together into a fluid and cohesive album, that has a nice flow to it. The band’s songwriting has undoubtedly stepped up a gear, with the changes in pace and sound feeling more organic and measured (except for “Shards”). Album highlight (and closer) “Into Perdition” opens delicately enough, with a stripped-back, instrumental guitar passage—it probably helps my enjoyment that you can hear the slide of fingers on guitar strings, something that, for whatever reason, I have a real thing for—before the track picks up intensity, speed and harshness, pulling its elements together in a dark, swirling mass. Initially, “Past Pulses” also has that sense of brooding as it opens Fervor, before Tenison’s throat-shredding vocals and the dual guitars of Ian Stoller and Gabriel Shara kick in. There is a more chaotic bent to “Chance is a Spectre,” which sees drummer Caleb Porter cut loose a little, alternating blasts with more deft and progressive fills to good effect.

The production is by far the biggest step up from Phantoms. Looking back at my review of that record, I see I was fairly neutral about the production but it wasn’t great. It wasn’t dreadful either but it had a harsh, metallic quality to it that, in Holdeneye‘s defense, did make for a slightly tiring listen. Fervor is a different beast in this department. With mixing and mastering handled by Colin Marston, the album has a deeper, more resonant sound, which gives all the instruments, and Tenison’s bass in particular, much more space to breathe. His vocals also have a bit more range to them, which is welcome. Without eschewing the rasping howls that gave the band’s earlier work its despairing note, Tenison has added in some deeper roars that border on death metal territory and serve to just mix things up a little.

Alright, in light of Fervor, perhaps I did slightly overrate Phantoms Made Permanent. If we at AMG did 3.25s, that would probably have been fairer but I have no regrets.¹ At the same time, Fervor is clearly the superior album. Without edging in the lofty 4.0 arena—at the very least “Shards,” which feels lost, janky and at odds with all the other material, would need to be done away with before that could happen—Eave has written a strong album, that flows well and, while drawing on a number of influences, manages to deliver a sound that Eave has grown into and feels like they are making their own.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 9 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Bindrune Recordings
Websites: eave.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/eavemusic
Releases Worldwide: July 28th, 2023

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