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At War With the Multiverse

by Epoch of Unlight

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    The first album from Epoch of Unlight since 2005 -- we'd say we're back, but we never actually left! "Don't call it a comeback...", you get it. Released on 9-16-2022, CDs and shirts available from Dark Horizon Records! Order your CDs here: https://store-darkhorizonrecords-com.3dcartstores.com/Epoch-Of-Unlight-At-War-With-The-Multiverse-CD_p_14192.html
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 USD  or more

     

  • Cassette + Digital Album

    This is a limited edition (only 85 being sold on Bandcamp) cassette version of "At War With the Multiverse." Gold cassette with 8-panel, double-sided insert. Each cassette comes with a double-sided, hand-numbered collectible card and your choice of a button or sticker.

    *************************************
    ****** NON-US ORDERS ******
    *************************************
    Please message us first for shipping rates before ordering. Sadly, chances are it costs way too much.

    Includes unlimited streaming of At War With the Multiverse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 85 

      $8 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Limited edition (500) compact disc comes with a hand-numbered collectible card and sticker in a resealable bag.

    *************************************
    ****** NON-US ORDERS ******
    *************************************
    Please message us first for shipping rates before ordering. Sadly, chances are it costs way too much. We will have some non-US distros with copies soon, contact us and we'll let you know.

    Includes unlimited streaming of At War With the Multiverse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 500 

      $8 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    This is the vinyl version of our latest album, "At War With the Multiverse."

    * 180g Translucent Gold vinyl / Color cardboard inner sleeve
    * Mastered for vinyl by Fascination Street
    * Limited quantity
    * Includes Bandcamp download code and some EoU goodies (stickers and whatnot)

    INTERNATIONAL ORDERS: Please contact us directly as shipping costs are too high to estimate.

    Includes unlimited streaming of At War With the Multiverse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 2 days
    edition of 200 

      $25 USD or more 

     

1.
From the depths arose life Born of a need to leave the sea And so began the eons march to sentience, to conquer all seen An unstoppable virus, so cancerous and so obscene A blight upon the world: The Anthropocene An epoch of unnatural evolution A world reshaped by need Anthropogenic agents of destruction unconstrained by destiny Imperfections mount with consequence No man could foresee the whims of The Immortals The extinction event proceeds A global plague brings forth the end of an age The poison sky bleeds revenge from on high A rising tide sweeps away this verminous kind The faithful pray for rapture, but they’re betrayed The end is nigh, it’s only a matter of time The pulse fades The light dies The Immortal bows its head as failure clouds its eyes Merciful malevolence where there once was pride A cycle of creation, a cycle of demise The clay is formed, a spell is cast The golem springs to life The end is nigh, it’s only a matter of time
2.
That which becomes must perish Yet sees the world through eager eyes Moments held in dying breaths and living lies With dread approach the hour Of the sorrows yet to be Undying … locked in faith’s embrace Until ...the numbing stillness takes us all What remains is a vessel in decay The numbing stillness takes us all Awakened just to fade away A way forth to delectation Their coward souls in line to abdicate autonomy To live entwined with the troth of eternal life And the mortal chains that hold Unbound … from the fate of flesh Yet still ...the numbing stillness takes us all What remains is a vessel to decay The numbing stillness takes us all Existing just to fade away “It will not shine again: Its sad course is done; I have seen the last ray wane Of the cold, bright sun.” The servile weep, a mournful shuddering cry A waking sleep for those who deify And linger in vain for a sign Withered, drawn upon themselves A nagging doubt within them dwells Deeper still the mooring pulls Holds fast to the unversed fools “Deserted one! Thy corpse lies cold And mingled with a foreign mould” The servile weep, a mournful shuddering cry A waking sleep for those who deify In the end, the tyrant claims its price Imminent, the voyage of demise That which becomes must perish Yet staves the end at any cost Moments are delayed and lost The dreadful hour of the sorrows meant to be Unyielding … merciless is the blade of fate The numbing stillness takes us all What remains is a vessel to decay The numbing stillness takes us all Resisting just to fade away “For the time when in my breast Their struggles will be over! For the day when I shall rest, And never suffer more!” The servile weep, a mournful shuddering cry A waking sleep for those who deify
3.
(with) Countless cycles of the sun Retribution was to come Along the frozen path … To unleash…the Cryo-wrath! Slowly stilling life with every falling step Banished from the warmth of life…banished to the cold Banished to the Northern plains…beyond the ice-dale hold Banished from the warmth of life…banished to the cold Banished and condemned to death…bound in geas hold The hoarfrost permeates as the one draws near …. Banished from the warmth of life…banished to the cold Banished to the Northern plains…beyond the ice-dale hold Banished from the warmth of life…banished to the cold Banished and condemned to death…bound in geas hold A tribal expulsion Under boreal gaze The austral foes approach Recruiting to their ways Allegiances sworn, upon the cryo-lex To fell the followers of light Destroying the sun’s grip wrapped upon the earth Loosened she falls within the night Driven to the darkest recess of inter-cosmic space Lying ice-bound in thin starlight. The glacial wrath delivered And so the lie undone… (with) Countless cycles of the sun Retribution was to come Along the frozen path … To unleash…the Cryo-wrath!
4.
The curse of The Immortals: the tedium of endless time A ceaseless march of forced existence, an amaranthine line With no cessation, no release from eternity The cursed Immortals create their own mortality From the depths their lessers arise Lost and searching for a guiding light Subservience instilled by their masters And so they pray They walk among the mortals, the lords of all creation With healing hands lay still their sighs, the promise of salvation The darkest fears of those unbound by the looming prospect of demise Feed the longing to assuage the skeptics of an afterlife From the cults of idolatry Comes a singular supreme deity Soothsayers foresee a hereafter For those who pray One by one, the pillars all shall fall In exile, reason casts a pall On whom they prey A crusade to indoctrinate, to enslave them all Illusory serpents undulate and bring the rest to thrall With saviors guiding from above, and evil held below A numbing stillness propagates, The Immortals make it so One by one, the pillars all shall fall In exile, reason casts a pall On whom they prey A burial in an ocean of unanswered prayers As faith still hinges on blind devotion and soothsayers Heretics seize the widening divide and conquer all seen And build upon ashes left by a faithless retreat The whims of The Immortals, a struggle for supremacy The smashed and scattered remnants of the singular Divinity Invaders raid the skyward towers, dispatch the savages with cruelty To spread a plague divine, to rid the world of heresy From the West the soldiers arrive The conquered heretics conscribed Devotion instilled by their captors To make them pray Unborn, a world terraformed by the Lords Lords unite with allegiances sworn Lords beguile the simple of mind Lords divine for those of finite time Time, the sands run low for those of finite time Forlorn, a world mired in chaos for Lords Lords balanced on the blades of swords Lords divide a mortal paradise Lords decree a mortal demise Demise, a clarion sounds to bring a mortal demise One by one, the pillars all shall fall Unraptured, The Cleansing casts a pall On those who prayed
5.
Rays from a dying sun Illuminate a clash begun for right The right to seek eternal light Keepers guard the Eastern Way Apostate's doom in empty eyes Viscera draped, charred, and cruciate Warn of death beyond the bolstered gates The summoning brings forth the horde Rouses the warbeasts from their sleep Drawn by the hunger of enslaved souls To be released Behold the righteous path, the blood of martyrs past And all will rise to touch the sky Forsake the fallen ones, their paeans left unsung Their glory lies within the afterlife Behold the righteous path, carnage in the aftermath And all apprise the sacrifice The stench of battles won, warmed by the titian sun Til one remains and sacred land is reclaimed Beneath a dying sun A fault in time obscures those lain in wait A mystic ruse to transcend the might of Western savagery Across the pass, the blade extends Forged by the flames that now pour forth To cleanse the flesh and free the soul A merciless means to glory's end As was foretold Behold the righteous path, the blood of martyrs past And all will rise to touch the sky Forsake the fallen ones, their paeans left unsung Their glory lies within the afterlife Behold the righteous path, carnage in the aftermath And all apprise the sacrifice The stench of battles won, warmed by the titian sun Til one remains and sacred land is reclaimed Beneath a dying sun One final gasp As night turns into day The embers burn as the choking wind feeds the flames Upon the ashes they dance Upon the remnants they feast "The last to stand," the elders chant, "shall endure Elysian peace!" The prophecy had come to pass Yet the Last to Stand remain A plague of doubt and ravaged faith Alone beneath a dying sun
6.
A mass incantation, the serpents arise The vessels of fury released With unrestrained rapture, the frenzied, consumed with ecstasy, Awaken the gods with the might of their cries Apostates shall never know peace The flesh of the fallen, a conqueror’s feast In pools of crimson … they’ll writhe In pools of crimson they’ll writhe! "Elysian Immortals!" they cry A path of destruction through unfaithful lands The vessels of fury unleashed The clerics enchant with the soothsayer’s song of prophecy Descent into darkness, they look to the sky Awaiting the looming Unlight Divine in its purpose, malignant to all Into salvation … they ride Into salvation they ride! "Elysian Immortals!" they cry and forge on Onward to the sea Three hundred ships aligned Shimmering scales of golden beasts Luminate the murky brine The Eastern Way within their sights Their savage howls of bloodlust fill the night Warships breach the shore A force ten-thousand strong Marches through the Eastern Way With battle cries and sabers drawn Unseen warriors from the East With fire and steel to be released Across the pass extends the blade The narrowed walls engulfed in flames A miscalculation, the flash of a blade The vessels of fury deceased The phalanx ablaze, conflagration consumes for purity Forsaking the gods with the might of their cries The faithful shall never know peace The flesh of the fallen, a vanquisher’s feast In pools of crimson … they writhe In pools of crimson they writhe! "Elysian Immortals!" the Last to Stand cry
7.
Numbers crashing down pierced by an errant thought Awash in a turbid sea, the path is yet to be revealed to me Numerus Bicallis! The pebbles skipped, the waves abate, so focus back initiates The grains of eight fall ever still, un-stilled am I to the task Searching...long since the first Willing...to be the last Tracing...where bloodline leads Learning...what fallen dream-locked secrets pass Unknown from when the path was sought, only to seek and to find the way The way to naught, the way to all, my will alone to serve as guide Searching...long since the first Willing...to be the last Tracing...where bloodline leads Learning...what fallen dream-locked secrets pass Their thoughts alone revealed to me What the Great Majority hides I see It’s my right, my will to be! Echoes of ancient minds From which I glean the Prime design Locked within the cipher of death The solution to the penultimate equation It’s my right, my will to be! Before my eyes The variables defined and rationalized As higher orders differentiate Eigenvectors are transformed into one Numbers lining up, arranged by focused thought The sea again is calm as the system-unification is wrought Their thoughts alone revealed to me What the Great Majority hides I see Solution's path now revealed, I take my leave Through nothingness to Omnipresence, my will has been achieved
8.
Night Hunt 04:28
Run! Silhouetted visages align the western ridge Cloaked in starless stratum, the furtive riders sped Jaws that bite, the claws that catch, the feted breath of coming death The lust that knows no end outside of time A preternatural hunger readied for the sport Predation’s path to serve as only guide Within the night… The moment nears, the stones re-palmed, as slowing pull of reins to calm Steadied now atop their steeds as one to make their call Jaws that bite, the claws that catch, the feted breath of coming death The lust that knows no end outside of time A preternatural hunger readied for the sport Predation’s path to serve as only guide To hunt the light! Gripped in gauntlets overhead, the Cas-i-mir effect Affect the stones held fast inside as appetites are wet Mass-negating pressure builds, atomic bonds are wrecked Sub-atomic disarray collapsing on itself Directed chaotic inflation steered toward times of light Attracting the foul intentions of “those” unknown by sight Slowly pouring forth through angles of time Lean and athirst and led by ancient pride The symmetry now broken, the riders' goal at hand The journey brings the sport which turn brings their end Directed chaotic inflation steered toward times of light Attracting the foul intentions of “those” of the Unlight And so they come... Forced from curve of time, the life arrives Illuminating quanta now quarry for the hunt Prey another night Prey upon the light
9.
Piercing primal night, the cosmic rays fall into sight From eons past and yet to be Gathering…to me…as pulled…by a force unseen Tensed and twisting colors tracing life through darker times The spectral path on which I ride Chaotic…conduit…converging…on the source The source, the fuel, the failing “light”! Light the fire and rally forth The seven tribes have read their sign A “mark of providence” emboldening bitter pride With haste they move to meet the night All light dies within the darkness All light dies without the spark to burn All light dies wherein the glory All light dies within the hyper-naught! The life is led, it feels the pull Each draws upon the other side All seven focused intent upon their will With just a blind eye toward the west All light dies within the darkness All light dies without the spark to burn All light dies wherein the glory All light dies within the hyper-naught! Retreating masses in a starless night Fleeing the field at melee’s end Engulfing all in swathing darkness Crushed (within) by the stalwart hand! The source, the fuel, the failing “light”! And in the wake the void expands Where life was, naught remains The hyper soul moves ever on!
10.
(Narrator): “And so begins the end, the begotten end of all! Labyrinthine the paths may be, they meet at tomorrow’s dawn.” (Scene 1): Beneath the cerise backdrop of a Sunside sky The routine westward trek is done In foolish comfort clustered masses shuffle by The path that ends with morrow’s dawn (Unlight): “All is gone, All is right, All returns to none in the Unlight!” (Narrator): “Within the uncreation’s void the call is heard.” (Scene 2): Generations harvested, yet still they linger on Steered by Elder’s plan they keep the lie The faith in rebirth like the cycle of the day The hope of a life that will not be (Unlight): “All is gone, All is right, All returns to none in the Unlight!” The multi-cosmic force arrives to usher in the end of lies Lies of life and lives to be, lies that blind so others see The end of promise, the end of light, the end of hope in eternal night! Now above for all to see: a Nimbostratus shrouded reckoning A silent herald to all below: no time remains, the end is now! (Scene 3 – Part A): Quickly spreading, the constricting sight As unlit strident tendrils probe across the heart of light The sinewed branches penetrate the crimson skies With fevered grasping, deeper gasping…as twilight dies So the hope begins to drift away Fading promise of another day (Scene 3 – Part B): Asthenic masses without the will Now stand beneath the growing shadow over fated hill Funereal celestial collapse over young and old As if a dream the final warming rays grow forever cold In the stream of time the hope is washed away Gone is the promise of another day! The feel of warming rays, the healing thought of another day, the realization stays The Lie of Tomorrow’s Dawn The trust in rebirth, the faith in day with prudence dearth, comfort in the chance unearthed The Lie of Tomorrow’s Dawn All is gone, All is right, All is one in the Unlight, Eternal return’s night The Lie of Tomorrow’s Dawn Another chance to be, another life to live another path to see, another foolish reprieve The Lie of Tomorrow’s Dawn

about

Epoch of Unlight last released an album in 2005, The Continuum Hypothesis, on The End Records. With that album, their 3rd full length, they fulfilled their contract and decided to step away from being a recording and touring band, partially due to exhaustion and partially due to wanting to pursue other avenues in life. Though the momentum they had generated from tireless touring in support of their albums slowed, they would continue to write and perform, but several member changes would cause perennial resets in plans to record with a stable lineup.

In 2016, Scott Baggett joined the band as vocalist, allowing guitarist/vocalist Jason Smith to step back and focus on guitar. His vocal style, a classic death metal growl mixed with the same sort of highs used by previous Epoch of Unlight vocalists, added a new dynamic to the band’s established style. In 2018, Jason left the band, causing yet another setback. Josh Braddock, who recorded all of the guitars on The Continuum Hypothesis, returned to the group, bringing with him a chaotic yet melodic lead style to complement the more technical lead style of longtime guitarist John Fortier, and the lineup has been stable ever since.

The COVID pandemic, while forcing an end to live performances, gave the band a chance to focus on 10 songs, refine them, practice them over and over, run them through a lengthy preproduction until finally, in October 2021, they were ready to record their fourth album, At War With the Multiverse. They entered ABR studios with longtime friend and former guitarist Alan Burcham at the helm, who used his considerable patience and skills to capture the band at its tightest, highlighting the rhythm section of drummer Tino LoSicco and bassist Joe Totty, a pair that formed the steady nucleus of Epoch of Unlight ever since their second album.

The end result is 42 minutes of technical melodic death metal, full of hooks and relentlessly catchy, while still retaining some of the straight-ahead American Black Metal that started their career and garnered so much attention back in the 90’s. Lyrically, it follows the same sort of science fiction/fantasy themes as previous efforts. Sonically, it’s the best-sounding Epoch of Unlight album yet, a result of Alan Burcham’s meticulous attention to detail while recording and mixing … and mixing … and mixing again, and the band’s years-long effort to perfect their performances of these songs.

The album was mastered at Fascination Street Studios by Tony Lindgren, who has worked with some of the biggest names in death and thrash metal. Knowing this album needed to make a mark after such a long absence from recording, even as an unsigned independent band, they pulled out all the stops in performance and production.

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released September 16, 2022

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Epoch of Unlight Memphis, Tennessee

Blackened death thrash from Memphis, TN -- est. 1992

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