Ethereal Menace is the third studio album by the South African gothic rock band The Awakening, released in July 1999 through Intervention Arts. Ashton Nyte wrote, performed and produced the album, which brought industrial elements into the band's sound, a style Nyte later called "dark future rock". It was accompanied by two companion EPs, The March and Sentimental Runaways.
Recording
Nyte wrote, performed, engineered and produced Ethereal Menace, beginning work in November 1998. The album was mastered by Graham Handley at Sweet 16.
Music
The band's website describes the album as "multi-layered, atmospheric soundscapes of guitar-oriented dark-wave". Nyte has described Ethereal Menace as introducing the industrial-influenced sound he called "dark future rock", a step on from the guitar-driven gothic rock of Risen (1997) and the New Romantic electronics of Request (1998).
The album closes with "The March", in two parts, and "Dreams in Fire".
Release
Intervention Arts released Ethereal Menace in July 1999, alongside The March, the first of two companion discs to the album. It featured a single version of "The March", the extended "Raising Flames" version, and two non-album songs, "Above" and "The Tyrant". A second companion EP, Sentimental Runaways, followed in November 1999. A music video for "The March" was directed by South African Music Awards winner Eban Olivier of Concrete Productions, and was placed in rotation on MTV Europe.
Critical reception
Alex Figgis of Cross Rhythms praised the album's complex keyboard arrangements over moody guitar and understated piano, and lyrics with depth that rewarded close study, concluding that it "may well be Nyte's best work to date".
