Artist: Enthroned
Title: Pentagrammaton
Type: Album
Label: Regain
All credit to Belgium’s Enthroned. Here, with “Pentagrammaton” they’ve managed to produce their 8th recorded album since forming in 1993 in spite of a lot of crap along the way, including the suicide of a member and endless line-up changes. Once a heavier and darker version of Immortal, they have been accused of the 20th century crime of imitating Norwegian Black Metal while not being Norwegian. I’ll put my cards on the table here. I own four of their albums up to “Xes Hereticum” (2004) and just love the blackness and intensity of it all. Tracks Like “Genocide” and “Völkermord. Der Antigott” on “The Apocalypse Manifesto” (1999) are not masterpieces of subtlety but capture a mood and stick in my head. Their almost militarily corpsepainted appearance was probably too clinical for their own good, but that doesn’t alter the music. When “Xes Hereticum” was released, I just couldn’t get into it, so I didn’t look out for them after that. There’s been just one studio album since then, “Tetra Karcist” (2007), and they’ve changed the singer. Now we have “Pentagrammaton”. I’ll tell you about that, apart from track 7 “Nehas’t”, which unfortunately wouldn’t download … shame.
I had quite a surprise. It’s Black Metal, but it’s far away from Norwegian orientated minimalism as is possible. The sound and style have developed to the point where darkness is coming in from every angle. The opening track “In Missi Solemnibus” sets the scene appropriately with the dark and uncomfortably indistinct sound of Hades. This is the perfect lead into the preached violence of “The Vitalised Shell”. Controlled chaos is going off in the background. If it sounds like anyone Norwegian, it would be Gorgoroth but Enthroned have developed their own sound and atmosphere here. Screams apart, it’s more rhythmic than I remember. It gets more frantic as it progresses. “The Vitalised Shell” is an interesting track. Black Metal violence floods the scene. “Ornament of Grace” is faster. The screams are more anguished. The changes of pace are impressive and add sophistication, combining with sinister deep voices and the constant air of chaos. Enthroned are creating their own world. By the track “Pentagrammaton” Enthroned’s world has descended into total anarchy. Metallic disorder signals the start. Majestic guitars and heavy drums keep it together and in fact for a piece of fired up blood and thunder, it’s very well controlled. “The Essential Chaos” by contrast seems pointless, but I did like the nightmarish metallic sounds of flies hovering on “A Te Clamamus Morvua Liberi”. Finally, “Unconscious Minds” sets off like a long march, courtesy of a relentless mid-paced sound wall, staked out by a dominant drum beat. There is a sense of war here. The guitars signal the onset of battle. It picks up, and the five minutes in, it slows down to a sinister and funereal crawl before dulling our senses again with that beat.
I do sense a greater maturity in Enthroned’s work here than what I remember, although I miss the rawness. This is very well produced and while some of the album is bog standard, it’s downright heavy, multi-layered and very atmospheric in parts. I appreciate that Enthroned have put their own stamp on it and there are some impressively dark passages. That said, my overall impression was that it’s competent rather than overwhelming, so that means my reaction to it is favourable rather than wildly enthusiastic, I guess.
http://www.enthroned.be
http://www.myspace.com/enthronedhorde
http://www.regainrecords.com
http://www.myspace.com/regainrecords
Andrew Doherty
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