The band was formed in 2008 and hails from the French city of Nantes. Their main influences seem to come from modern hardcore, metalcore and djent, a genre I only recently got acquainted with and to me still sounds a bit like the other two combined. The combination of all these influences result in a crushingly heavy and painfully aggressive album. Yet, there's plenty of room for melodic passages, reminding me of some melodic death and dark metal bands.
The riffs are stunning on this album, and so are the lead guitars. They don't only sound more or less completely similar to their influences but also to some modern day doom metal bands, which is a plus for this album. The tempo usually is quite slow, except in some tracks, like the intense outburst 'Epsilon'. That being said, there's quite some variation, even though the overall atmosphere is quite similar to a spiked booth being thrown in your face.
Post-hardcore fans will absolutely be awed by this album, I can promise you that. Not only the quite impressive set of riffs and leads but also the typical screams. I often hear French lyrics but they're mostly indistinguishable from their English counterparts. Personally, I really dig the instrumental breathers like 'II', right before the title track once again blasts out in a massive rage and crushing intensity.
So check it out if you're into this kind of music as Ellipse certainly managed to come up with a fresh and highly modern metal sound, one that just might define the future of the French core scene. If you're not a post-hardcore fan, most of what you can hear on this debut full-length will probably sound like a hurtful slab of chaotic noise, but I don't think that's Ellipse's problem. They will probably just keep on smiling and crushing at the same time.
Serge