Echoes is the title of the exciting post groove metal album by Noumenia, featuring heavy drumming, rhythmic virtuosity, ripsaw growl vocals, and a gargantuan guitar sound that literally reinvents the power of the power chord. Often, the songs on this record kick off with bizarre futuristic introductions constructed of suspense and trepidation, like movie soundtracks made for aliens, dangerous AI, and cyborgs gone mad, yet following these mystic “orchestral” and “celestial” preludes, Noumenia hit us with drop after drop that rock so hard we are stunned. The pound and burn on this record are massive, the hooks mesmerizing, the changes invigorating, the philosophical lyrics all too close to the heart, the bottom-side where we stockpile secrets and darkness. Musically, this record makes for a striking hybrid, explosive and smooth, hard diamond with a soft shine, a thick dose of dangerous velvet.
Holistically, it seems that the band has a mission here to invigorate, exfoliate, and buzzsaw the brain so the new world looks real and raw. At the beginning of the record, we are asked to “Tear off the eyes, your sight is stale / Cut off your tongue, [and]never exhale.” That said, we are also prompted to approach each day from a position of strength and rejuvenation, as it says in focus track number one titled, ‘The Circle‘ that “From dust and bones, we’ll be reborn.” In the second focus track: ‘Fall Apart,’ the traditional vocal warms us to the core and sets us on the sheer precipice of the monstrous growl symbolizing the fierce internal battles we wage in our effort to “Unbind the rope that chokes [the]heart.” Finally, with the third focus track: ‘Black Ocean,’ we are exposed to a variety of vocals that are in themselves a symphony of tone, pitch, and power. And though there is a warning of a “systems crash,” there is hope in what has become a strange yet peaceful shadowland, in that we are asked to “Stay with me ‘til the sun kisses the horizon / Sail with me through the waves of infinity.”
Echoes by Noumenia was produced by Richard Meiz (Lacuna Coil, Genus Ordinis Dei), and was mixed & mastered by Daniele Salomone (Lacuna Coil, Inverno, D With Us) at DDStudio Records. Echoes by Noumenia was released by Eclipse Records on June 27, 2025.
