I don’t quite remember why I skipped on Septekh earlier EP titled The Seth Avalanche. Perhaps it was the picture of the jackal face on the cover that did not impress me. Or maybe I underappreciated Fuckslut from Hell, the opening (and incidentally the best) track on that EP. Sticking with their way of issuing shorter releases, the Swedes are back, yet with another EP called Apollonian Eyes, continuing to proliferate their blend of what they call dirty thrash/death metal.

Not as punky as the Norwegians Aura Noir and Audiopain Septekh remind me of, they stick to their chaotic and demented style on the opening title track of the EP. After some military march overtones creep in on Apollonian Eyes, the fight between this structure and dementia keeps on going, with depravity prevailing in the end either way. Burn It to the Ground is catchy, especially in the chorus, lower register sounding Sodom, with Patrick Strom’s bass being audible throughout and even getting to play his own role on this track. The vocals by Nils Meseke are buried a bit, but they are right back where they need to be on the At The Gates going a little crazier than normal Cursing the Skies.

It the closer Vlad Tepes, however, which surprised me the most. Very unexpectedly, this song provided me with a totally different angle of Septekh, reminding me distantly early Dark Tranquillity on Skydancer, with a number of melodic flows and ebbs, tremolos picking up energy, and appropriately tortured vocals. Vlad Tepes, title befitting, has a lot of blackened character in addition to its lunging predatory riffs making it the most interesting song on the album.

The Swedes are still looking for their way, but sound more confident with every subsequent EP they put out.