Review: de facto enscripture - Sardonic Entropy Nexus

Label: Middle-Man Records

This is huge.
This is epic.
This is unique.
This is a wet dream for every Screamo enthusiast!

But first, a little background: Sometime ago Edie Quinn (Middle-Man Records, COMA REGALIA) started a project called DEFACTO EN SCRIPTURE along with their befriended musician Anai Sigala. They asked Dave Norman (Zegema Beach Records) to do some vocals and released 4 songs on the "What happens, happens"-EP last year. The lineup was kind of vague and you had to dig deeper to garner some information. Despite being really good, the release didn't get a push. It seemed more like a one-off-project...

...but now, here's their first LP... or...? Nah, not quite. Maybe that's why they changed the notation from DEFACTO EN SCRIPTURE to DE FACTO ENSCRIPTURE. For this new project Edie wrote 28 tracks in February of 2021. The core idea: Sending these 28 tracks to 30 different vocalists, ultimately forming some kind of "Screamo Supergroup". Confused, already? Me too, but just read their massive write-up on the evolution of this project at their Facebook-account. 

In the end 26 of the 28 tracks got different vocalists, only Pierce of SOUL GLO (he's just killing it, "Wsup W Ya" might just be my favourite here) & Chris Gough (MATSURI) did two tracks. Other vocal duties are carried by Tom Schlatter (HUNDREDS OF AU, BLACK KITES, YOU AND I), Justin Pallas (WE WERE SKELETONS), Dave Rudnik (SEVEN DAYS OF SAMSARA), Seth Babb (LACRIMA, FUNERAL DINER), Jeremy Bolm (TOUCHE AMORE) or Kathleen Stubelek (CIRCLE TAKES THE SQUARE), just to name a few. There are also some guest guitarists who get their spot, as well as accompaniments. The people who are holding everything together are Edie as the masterminds, songwriters, producers, drummers and main guitarists and their buddy Tom Schlatter who does all the bass.

I was skeptic about the outcome of this, with all the guest musicians. Would this turn out to be a scattered collection or would it come off as totally forced? I can tell you, neither is the case! You can hear that this is Edie's brainchild and that does wonders for the album. In fact, it's an ambitious and downright unique blend of compilation and album. You just can't call this a "common" album with all these different voices, but it's far off a wild compilation without any rhyme or sense. It's coherent and consistent throughtout, there went much thought into the listing of the tracks, and as a whole these 34 minutes just flow surprisingly well. 

Musically Eide stay true to theirselves, hence this is not too far away from the stuff they already did, e.g. COMA REGALIA, but also fans of Schlatter's numerous projects will get down with this. In terms of style, it's the estimated modern, but also gritty and true-to-the-roots Screamo/Emoviolence stuff, with a lot of breaks, fast rhythms, chuggy guitars, moody soundscapes and some hopeful melodies as well as a handful of toned down parts to mix things up. 34 mintues are a long runtime for the genre, but Edie did a good job with the songwriting to keep things interesting. In addition, the nature of all those shouters leave a mark on their respective track(s). The songs clock in around the 1-minute-mark most of the time and stray away from any form of bullshit. There are some breathers every now and then between the tracks, but other than that it's banger after banger after banger in the good old "Screamo tradition".

What ultimately puts this on another level is the sentimental factor behind it. This is a love letter to Screamo, and a love letter to its listeners. If you're not familiar with the scene/the genre and listen to "Sardonic Entropy Nexus" it will probably sound to you like every other Screamo-record that came out on Middle-Man or Zegema Beach in the last couple of years. But if you follow the scene, this album is like if you're 6 years again, walkin' through an overblown bling-bling candy shop. You know at least half of the vocalists who participate and definitely know at least one band in which they play or were playing. You know Tom Schlatter and of course you know and cherish Edie Quinn for all the passion they put into projects like this. DE FACTO ENSCRIPTURE is something like the pinnacle of Edie's work and a demonstration of their value to the scene.

There's already the talk goin' round about the continuation of this project. Eide mentioned a potential Fest to feature all the vocalists' bands, with the centerpiece being DE FACTO ENSCRIPTURE performing "Sardonic Entropy Nexus" in full length. That would be quite amazing! Personally I hope that they don't overdo it, releasing a part every year or so. I think that would water it down, making it just another compilation, so to say the "Screamo Diaries". For what it currently is, this is a truely special record, the perfect realization of a cool idea, and therefor e-fucking-ssential for eeeeeevery Screamo-lover!

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