Photo courtesy of Daniel Lee
Entheos-the ever-evolving death metal duo made up of vocalist Chaney Crabb and multi-instrumentalist Navene Koperweis-has developed a working chemistry that allows them to incorporate fresh ideas into the more technical style of death metal, by way of raw emotion. As a reflection of that, their latest musical achievement, Time Will Take Us All, is a meticulously crafted, yet impactful, journey that represents the duo’s ongoing transformation.
As the two continue to channel aspects of their individual growth into developing Entheos’ overall sound, Crabb acknowledges how their creative partnership has become “a symbiotic process of relationship and band.”
She continues, “Navene and I are constantly experiencing what each other are going through. We’ve both gone through a ton of personal growth, and that directly correlates to the band because a ton of our personal growth is us communicating where we want to take the band.”
While Crabb took the opportunity to reveal a more vulnerable and sincere representation of herself through an expansive vocal variety this time around, Koperweis, in turn, was able to construct some of the band’s heaviest, most intricate, compositions to date.
“We’re just totally in line,” says Crabb. “We understand each other in a way that people in band’s may not usually understand each other because they’re not always in relationships with each other. It makes for a really unique thing.”
“I’ll be honest, there’s times where we have to turn off the band talk for the day and focus on being a couple. It’s a learning process, and I don’t think that it would work for every single couple. But, for us, it just happens to work really well.”
Throughout Time Will Take Us All, an alluring familiarity continuously draws the listener in. Each song seamlessly transitions into the next, while recurring segments create earworms through their repurposed expression. Having successfully managed to put together their most cohesive collection of songs, Crabb attributes that to scaling the band back to just the two members–outside of Evan Brewer’s imperative bass contributions.
“Scaling the band back to the two of us, has allowed us to directly access that Entheos sound.”
“It’s (Navene’s) voice, and it’s my voice, and we got to spend a bunch of time together thinking about what we want to do, musically. I think that because of that, it’s become more of a complete, thought-out thing. The art matches the videos, matches the lyrical concept, matches the music concept.”
On top of the more thematic, cohesive components, there’s another thing about the new album: it’s HEAVY.
“We felt like we didn’t totally bring the heavy on Dark Future, which is fine,” mentions Crabb. “I love that album, and I’m proud of what we did there, but we were like, ‘Let’s make this album heavier.’ So, we definitely did that with purpose.”
Vocally, Crabb showcases her ability to infuse clean singing into Entheos’ sound, recalling putting out the single “I Am The Void,” almost as if it were a test.
“I was anxious, anticipating what the reaction would be,” recalls Crabb. “It exceeded every hope that I had and it made me feel like people really get us, so we can push further in that direction. We’re never going to get rid of the heavy aspects, but it is endearing to know and feel even more comfortable now that we can really do whatever we want. I think that both of us are feeling artistically fulfilled in that way… it’s exciting.”
Between moving to a different state across the country, the pandemic, Crabb being involved in a devastating scooter accident, and continuing to grow as both a musical unit and as significant others, there’s no question that Crabb and Koperweis were challenged throughout the making of this record.
Looking back on the damage caused by her scooter accident, Crabb acknowledges how much it impacted her perspective on life. “It’s purely gratitude… all the time. When something like that happens, it’s super humbling. That was really a huge takeaway for me.”
“It’s easy to get caught up in all the things-the aspects of being human. And being human, it can be super beautiful and super great, but it can also be super dark, depressing, and negative. So, I think it’s important to go through stuff like that, that reminds you that life is temporary and momentary, and it helps you be more present in each moment, as much as you can.”
Overcoming obstacles made up the building blocks of Time Will Take Us All, allowing its impact to hit that much harder. Both Crabb and Koperweis channeled a lot of strong emotions into the sound of this record, expanding into new soundscapes that will certainly define Entheos’ impact moving forward.