These days, it seems that the city of Los Angeles is being surpassed as a metal music haven.  It seems magnified by the fact that their West Coast contemporaries such as San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle all have more prominent metal scenes that figure to stay afloat for a while.  To that end, the Los Angeles-based band Einvera looks to make their mark in the metal scene with their self-released debut In Your Image.  

Einvera is a trio that consists of Mike, Zac, and Grant (no last names are given).  Grant handles among other things, vocals, guitar, and various other instruments including toy piano (!).  Despite having a good sound, one thing Einvera suffers from on In Your Image is that there’s a lot going on and not enough of it makes sense. The best way to describe Einvera’s sound is to imagine Eluveitie in a blender, which is to say melodic death vocals with the folk metal sounds sped up about 10 times the normal pace.  There is even a nice Spanish guitar-influenced interlude in “Send Me Home.”  The music talent is there, but it seems that Einvera tries too hard to stand out at the expense of creating memorable songs, and much of that could be helped just by keeping things simple and adding things as they progress.  As it is, Einvera seems to be rolling the dice on immediate success and putting everything they have out there for the listener.  This is fine for a band who is still looking for a record label (which Einvera is at the time of this review), but unless most of it makes sense, it could be a very short shelf life for a band like Einvera.

In Your Image is what you would expect from a band that is seeking attention like Einvera: a decent, potential-laden album that showcases the band’s talents, yet in need of refinement and the tools to put it all together.  Einvera has the skills to succeed, but what they do for a follow up will be the most interesting question going forward.

TRACK LISTING

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*Comments:

1.  Static Ascension
2.  Let in Without a Name
     (Sea of Trees)
3.  Invariably Transient
4.  Send Me Home
5.  Prismatic Distortion
6.  In Your Image
7.  The Gift of a Ghost
8.  A Mausoleum for the Living

Total playing time:  33:19

Release Date: June, 2011
Label: Band Self Released

Einvera - In Your Image

Reviewer: Peter

July 25, 2011