I have been
a fan of Enthroned for years. What
really drew me in back in the day was the fact that in the endless seas of
bland black metal. Enthroned had
their own sound. They use a lot of melody, where not afraid to slow down, they
used solos and they had one of the most distinctive vocalist in the entire
black metal scene.
In 2006
vocalist Lord Sabathan left the band
and guitarist Nornagest took over on
vocals. And for me a huge part of the reason why I liked this band disappeared.
And I found my interest in the band doing the same, I listened to the albums
they put out, Tetra Karcist, Pentagrammaton and Obsidium. But they did not spark any interest, so it
was with fairly low expectations I started listening to Sovereigns.
But I was
pleasantly surprised, Sovereigns
is a really cool and varied album. This is really solid stuff, and the eerie
feeling is still here. And sometimes it is damn near spooky. Check out the
intro to the track Feathers and flames. Absolutely epic, and then it
kicks off with fast riffing and drumming, killer! And I really like how the
song ends with the same spooky riff that it starts with. With this album I
think Enthroned has found a very good balance and think they have found
it with all aspects of the album. Harmony and disharmony is one of the aspects
that first came to mind. They are using a lot of dissonant riffing which of
course is nothing new in black metal but the balance between ear ripping
disharmony and beautiful harmony is quit astonishing on this album. Take a
listen to the part around 1 minute mark in the song The edge of agony
and just rejoice in the beauty and brilliance of the interplay of the two
harmonies.
Enthroned has always had a good deal of variety in their music and this
album is no different. Lamp of invisible light is a prime example of
this. The song meanwhile not very fast by any standard has an almost rockish
quality to it, really catchy and head banging friendly. And what happens? We
get an extremely beautiful ending with clean guitars and a nice melody. And
just to complete the circle the next song is a real kick in the teeth of a
blast fest. Holy hell this one is fast.
Moving on to the vocals, what can I say they are great, Nornagest
is a great singer. Maybe it just took me a long time to get over the fact that
the band changed, I don’t know. But on this album I think he is doing a
fantastic job. There is a nice of mix of the classic black metal screams, more
chaotic screams and spoken word parts. All in all it is great, and I think that
I might have to go back and listen to the post Lord Sabathan albums
again.
As with all Enthroned albums I have heard the playing is top notch
and everything is tight and nice. And the same goes with the production which
on Sovereigns is spot on. In is not over produced and not to raw, I
think it goes hand in hand with Enthroned take on black metal, raw yet elegant.
So yeah, Enthroned has really created a beats with this one, if you like them
before you will like this. And if you are a black metal fan looking for
something new, this will be a great addition to your collection.
Sweden`s Wilhelm Lindh*, "Portuguese by adoption," guitar player, composer and owner of the Doom / Death Metal band The Gardnerz, reviews here in HeavyHardMetalmania.net. Careful and professional analysis to the music and albums with suggestions of what there is to see and hear ... not to be missed. "The wisdom is found in the extremes, all extreme Metal here!".
"Sovereigns" track listing:
01. Anteloquium
02. Sine Qua Non
03. Of Feathers And Flames
04. Lamp Of Invisible Lights
05. Of Shrines And Sovereigns
06. The Edge Of Agony
07. Divine Coagulation
08. Baal al-Maut
09. Nerxiarxin Mahathallah
ENTHRONED are:
Nornagest - lead vocals & lead guitars
Phorgath - bass
Neraath - lead guitars
Menthor - drums
ZarZax - rhythm guitar
"Sovereigns" was recorded and mixed in ENTHRONED's own studio, Blackout Multimedia. The album will be available in: digipack CD, black vinyl, bone-white vinyl with green splatter limited to 100 hand-numbered copies and exclusive box CD limited to 333 hand-numbered copies (including the new album released in exclusive jewel-case edition, embroidered patch (8 cm x 10 cm), flag (42 cm x 59.4 cm) and a lighter with band's logo).
April 15th worldwide release on Agonia Records | Join to the legions | Listen full album here.
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