ENTHRAL

Enthral are a bunch of Norwegians playing, yeah you guessed it, black metal. However, they don't wear corpse paint (at least in the promo shots I've seen), and so must be progressive right? Sadly not. They do the stock and trade tremolo-picking and blast beats synonymous with the genre. And, ultimately, it's performed relatively well and sounds nicely polished. But, aside from a couple of pleasant detours into death metal territory, it's all just a little bit stale. Perhaps the fact they've been at this now for fifteen years is the main problem; even the otherwise stubborn Darkthrone have tried to progress during their lifespan. This would have been a respectable release back in the late nineties, but today it sounds tired and formulaic. If you want a great example of how a modern, yet traditional, black metal release should sound try out Taake's recent output. So, it's thankfully brief over the course of its three tracks and doesn't leave a foul taste; just a terribly bland one.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Duplicate Records

EP

SPITEFUL DIRGES

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

18:34

RELEASE DATE:

23rd Jan 2010

TRACK LISTING

1) Death To You All
2) Celebration of Agony
3) A Spiteful Dirge

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

Norway

"This would have been a respectable release back in the late nineties, but today it sounds tired and formulaic."