Bryan Eckermann – Plague Bringers
Release Date: 5th November 2021
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Black, Death Metal.
FFO: Dissection, Eshtadur, Scars of the Flesh.
Review By: The Wayfaerer
The solo artist is one who blazes their own trail. Rather than getting mixed up with the politics of a band or label meddling with their artistic vision, they strike out on their own and realize their true vision by themselves. Such is the case with Texan Bryan Eckermann. A journeyman musician from San Antonio, Eckermann has gone through the Texas underground metal scene since 2000, rolling with bands such as Wings of Abbadon, Scars of the Flesh, and Ancient Malus. On top of that, he’s also been hard at work with his own solo material, creating eight full-length albums since 2014, the latest offering of which we have here, Plague Bringers.
Blackened Death Metal is Eckermann’s bread and butter and on Plague Bringers, you can feel that in spades. Ice Queen sets the tone early, with the most notable feature on the album being Eckermann’s sinister growl that lands somewhere between Jeff Walker and Abbath. It’s evil, but not incoherent, and it carries the album on its shoulders. From there, the next notable thing would be the guitars. Eckermann has been a guitarist for the most part in his other bands, so it’s brought front and center, and it’s…fine. It gets the job done, but there’s no ‘wow’ factor to any of the riffs or solos, it feels like they’re there because they have to be. The drums do their job, but they feel very thin and aren’t punchy or impactful. The production feels very thin overall I assume to conserve the icy cold tone that the album propagates. The Bass is a complete non-factor, as it’s there only to prop up the guitars and nothing more.
As for the songs themselves, I honestly couldn’t tell you. Every song is different, but I’ll be damned if I could pick out one from the other. After The Devouring Sun, they all sort of blend together in a cold, lifeless mush. As a result, very little on this album stands out for me, with the big exception of Oblivion, the outro, which was a great instrumental piece of acoustic guitar work over ambient wind that comes across as hauntingly beautiful. It’s my favorite track merely because it doesn’t get lost in the blackened death blizzard that I find myself navigating throughout the rest of the album.
Eckermann’s musicianship is good, but not amazing. It didn’t wow me with spectacle, there weren’t many hooks for me to headbang to, and I think that is the fatal flaw with this album. There’s no ‘zing’, nothing to make it memorable, nothing that makes it stand out. But what really grinds my gears is that I know that Bryan can do so much better. After I finished this album, I checked on his previous album Zychodia out of curiosity and it’s so much better it’s laughable. The drums are punchier, the guitar work is better, Bryan’s voice is a lot fiercer, and it honestly makes Plague Bringers come off as an afterthought, which is exactly how it feels to me. If you enjoy it, more power to you. But Eckermann can do so much better.
(2 / 5)
