Ego Kill Talent

The Dance Between Extremes

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Genre: Hard Rock.
Released: 19/03/2021
Via BMG

Album Review: Ego Kill Talent – The Dance Between Extremes

Brazilian rockers, Ego Kill Talent, have just completed their new album ‘The Dance Between Extremes’, the new album was released across the past year in three segments due to the current worldwide situation. The band were originally set to release the album in one go last May, as well as go on tour with Metallica, and Greta Van Fleet in South America, perform at the majority of the Danny Wimmer festivals in the U.S., and go on tour with System Of A Down in Europe. This meant that the band were set to play 35 shows and 21 key festivals across three continents, however, the band were forced to pivot due to the global shutdowns, opting to split their full-length into three EPs. The Dance EP landed on June 27. The Dance Between EP dropped on December 4. And the final part, making up the entire full-length released last Friday. I have therefore opted to split this review into the three EPs.

The Dance EP

‘NOW!’ eases us into the release, giving itself a minute to build up with Jonathan Dörr’s voice coming across in an almost angelic manner. The song then explodes with a great drum beat and guitar riff. It’s hard to believe with lyrics like “I’m craving for something to fill up my time, We should be scared of the illusion of living here forever” and “Without any hints of what comes next, I lost my life, How come we never see the beauty of now?” that this song wasn’t written during the pandemic. Which just shows how meaning can change with the times. The song gives the EP and the full length a great start.

The band have seemingly decided to switch up their tracklisting over the last year, with the next two tracks being the opposite way around on the full-length release. The EP saw ‘Lifeporn’ coming first, which if you told me it came from the Foo Fighters discography, I’d probably believe you. Excellent drumming with a great vocal performance, backed by some amazing guitar work. The song is catchy and I love the harmonic vocals that poke through from time to time.

‘The Call’ is up next, the song is a bit too repetitive for my liking, and doesn’t feel like it does much to change it up throughout. It’s not a bad song though, and if it came on the radio or a Spotify playlist I wouldn’t skip it. So far The Dance EP has shown off the band’s musical skill.

The Dance Between EP

‘Deliverance’ is the first new track on the second EP ‘The Dance Between’, the track comes in, changing the style up from the first three tracks, to something that sounds a lot meatier, and showing a darker side to the band. A really nice bassline paired with the drumbeat keeps this track at a steady pace throughout. It almost gives off vibes of some of the lighter Slipknot tracks with big heavy guitar sounds. The track makes a refreshing change from the first three tracks.

‘Silence’ slows the album down, but keeps the darker heavier guitar tones of the previous track. I really love the chorus on this track, it really feels like the downhill parts of a rollercoaster. There’s also a really nice guitar solo in this track. The track then fades away and lets ‘In Your Dreams Tonight’ take over. The track drops the previous two tracks darker tones, and feels again like another Foo Fighters track. This track is alright, but it doesn’t do much to wow me, and leaves me just a little underwhelmed.

A disappointing mid-point in the album, is then picked up by the heavier ‘Sin and Saints’. The track brings the bass guitar forward, making it lead the track, the bass riff and drums give me Skindred vibes, before launching into a chorus similar to the EPs earlier tracks pushing the meatier sound back after the chorus. It repeats this once more before, changing into an almost psychedelic, euphoric sound for a little bit, and then coming back round to the meatier riffs. The second EP, ‘The Dance Between’, really shows the band’s great mix in styles and tones. It’s nice that the whole album thus far hasn’t sounded the same throughout.

The Dance Between Extremes

The first track of the final part of this album, ‘Starving Drones (A Dinner Talk)’, gives us yet another change in styles. Starting off with the lyrics being shouted through a megaphone, giving a feeling of somewhere between Skindred and Rage Against The Machine. This start has a heavier feel to it than anything on the last EP. The song then transitions into a similar hard rock track, to the ones we’ve heard previously on the album. Repeating switching between the two styles another couple of times, and then featuring a drum solo halfway through. This track has some interesting moments.

‘Our Song’ is probably the softest track on the album, it makes a nice juxtaposition to the previous track, starting off acoustically, before moving into a light rock track. It’s a nice little track, and adds a breather after some of the album’s heavier tracks. Obviously with a name like ‘Diamonds and Landmines’, this next track is one of the heavy tracks across the album, with the chorus making some lighter moments, feeling like diamonds poking through the tracks. This is definitely one of the more interesting tracks on the album. It’s nice to have a change in style once again.

The next track jumps straight into it, with a fast pace, strong guitars, and some good vocals. ‘Beautiful’ makes for a great penultimate track. It’s another one that feels a little Foo Fighter esc. Jonathan Dörr’s vocals have really shone throughout this album. ‘The Reason’ closes the album starting off slow-building and building into a steady pace. It can feel a bit all over the place at times, changing how it sounds every little bit – sometimes only slightly. It’s not the album’s strongest song, and definitely is a weak end to an otherwise really good album.

Overall this is a great album, which is definitely worth a listen, it shows a great mix of styles that the band can pull off and definitely highlights them as a band that should be on everyone’s radar. While a few of the tracks were not for me, those tracks didn’t detract from the album. After this hearing this release, I really hope I can get to check out their live show at some point.