Prog-metallers Etherius put quarantine time to good use with this technically formidable - and good-humored - full-band playthrough

With the COVID-19 pandemic thrusting everyone into lockdown, musicians are feeling the boredom. Otherwise busy touring schedules have been transformed into quiet time at home, or in the case of New Jersey prog-metal quartet Etherius, not-so-quiet time.

In their own words: "We're all stuck home and got a little stir-crazy." As a result, the band have recorded a full-band playthrough of Pyramid of Mirrors from their 2020 album Chaos. Order. Renewal. (which happens to feature none other than Angel Vivaldi), which is loaded with staggering technical dexterity, not to mention top-drawer to-camera chug faces.

"For Pyramid of Mirrors, we were going for a melody with an epic accompaniment behind it, which is exactly what we were able to accomplish with the main hook of the song," says guitarist Jay Tarantino. "The guitars chug away while the synth and piano provides a nice texture in the background. 

"We wanted to contrast that with the fast, thrash-y style of the verses, which has a bit more shred guitar, but still has tons of melody. The heavy breakdown in the bridge actually came from the bass riff that occurs at the end of the song and brings it to a nice conclusion. 

"For gear, we tracked with a seven-string Kiesel Aries electric guitar, equipped with Guitarmory Minuteman pickups. Rhythm guitars were re-amped through an EVH 5150 III Stealth amp and lead tones were recorded with the Axe-Fx II XL+ amp modeler."

Etherius's new album Chaos. Order. Renewal. is available now.