Progressive metal's best Italian trio, the bizarre, jazz heavy, avant-garde experimentalists in EPHEL DUATH , have revealed a release date for their forthcoming followup to Pain Necessary To Know . The band have confirmed a January 26, 2009 release for their long-anticipated fourth studio album, Through My Dog's Eyes , through Earache Records. Over the past couple albums, EPHEL DUATH has progressed through a number of (..pardon the pun..) palettes and have never failed to bring something new to the world of music. From the forward thinking progressive-influenced black metal of their early albums, to the off-time chaos of The Painter's Palette , to the spacecy avant-garde jams of their most recent album, EPHEL DUATH always keeps everyone – including themselves, it often seems – guessing about where they'll take their sound next. Thanks to a profoundly unique vision, it appears that the band's next album will not be an out of line with this trend…
Through My Dog's Eyes is a based around a left-of-center concept, created by guitarist and founding member Davide Tiso, in which the entire album is written from the perspective of a dog. "I wrote a few short stories and it was really fun for me to imagine myself as a dog and to imagine the world from a dog's perspective," says Tiso. "The challenge was to translate the words into lyrics. Every song is a window into the dog's mind or an event. The album touches on a lot of things, both deep and sometimes silly." And it's not simply the lyrics in Through My Dog's Eyes that are written from the dog's perspective – but rather the entire album, including the arrangement, is based around this concept. "The music in this case is the soundtrack of the thoughts of the dog – at times you can hear the dog running," Tiso elaborates.
The lineup behind EPHEL DUATH has shifted considerably over the past several years, but through it all the foundation has remained solid. Furthermore, their commitment to musical mastery has continued and their ability to experiment with sounds and concepts has expanded. Additionally, both drummer Marco Minneman of NECROPHAGIST and DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN 's guitarist Benjamin Weinman contributed to the album as well. Bandleader Davide Tiso has a clear vision for the future, and even if it is a bit weird, I think we should trust where EPHEL DUATH is about to take us this time and just go along for the "walk". Tiso's description of his album closes, "I see the dog as an animal really full of energy. I imagine this dog, the dog on the album, as a little cantankerous and mischievous." Even if that's as clear of a description as Davide's willing to give, I'll be looking forward to it.
Until then, enjoy the classic music video of "The Passage (Pearl Grey)" from EPHEL DUATH 's 2003 behemoth, The Painter's Palette :
