On new track Dark Echoes, Brazilian metallers Eminence – together with Soilwork vocalist Björn Strid – take aim at bigotry in all its forms, and they do so with little regard for subtlety.
But behind the track's fierce lyrics sit an equally aggressive batch of stellar guitar riffs. The title track from their upcoming fifth studio album, Dark Echoes marks the culmination of the quartet's 25 years in the scene, condensing their musical expertise into this absolute juggernaut of a tune.
Guitarist Alan Wallace and bassist Davidson Mainart join Guitar World today for an exclusive playthrough of the track, so here's your chance to see those igniting riffs in action.
Gear-wise, Wallace plays an EMG pickup-equipped ESP Horizon 7-string electric guitar – which runs through a Mesa/Boogie 2:Ninety power amp and Tech 21 SansAmp PSA-1.1 amp modeler, while Mainart wields a Music Man StingRay 5 H bass guitar, through an Ampeg SVT-4 Pro amp.
“I started writing the Dark Echoes guitar riffs at the beginning of the pandemic here in Brazil,” Wallace says. “It was a very difficult moment for us, so I decided to compose. I sent the initial riffs to our bassist Davidson Mainart and singer Bruno Paraguay and we started working on the pre-production process for the album remotely.
“At first, I was thinking of writing a more brutal song but then I thought it was better to mix new elements and leave the music with more melody.
“I played using down picking and speed picking with heavy distortion and used the same gear in the studio as I do with live shows. I recorded the guitar with ProTools HD with a Shure SM57 mic and Neve 1073 pre-amps.”
