Enthral - Obtenebrate

Review by Sean Cordes.


Obtenebrate is the first full-length from Norwegian black metallers Enthral since 2003. They were oft-overlooked compared to other bands in the Norse scene, but they had a pretty distinctive style (and their outstanding Prophecies of the Dying still does). Obtenebrate is a long affair, and consistently dark, heavy, and oppressive. The riff lexicon is a deft mix of black and death metal, leaning more to the black metal side. The vocals are suitably gravelly, sometimes breaking into more death metal territory, but are not terribly varied - as a result, the focus is on the dark, nihilistic, hate-filled music.

If I have one small qualm with this album, it’s that the songs sort of run together. Mainly, this is because most sections seem to have vocals over them (that is, there aren’t many instrumental sections to let the music breathe and develop a lot), and it’s essentially riff-salad construction. That said, the material itself is so strong that the issues in composition actually don’t make much difference - it’s still a good album, mostly because of the riffs and ideas present, the band just have room to improve and tighten the screws, so to say, on the next outing.

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Xanthochroid - Blessed He with Boils

By Sean Cordes.. The sound of Xanthochroid can, in essence, be pared down to the best parts of Opeth and Emperor coming together in one cohesive whole. While that description is close though, it doesn’t do the band justice. It is an extremely melodic, heavily symphonic, and nuanced brand of extreme progressive metal.

By Sean Cordes.

Album art by Natacha Nielsen

The sound of Xanthochroid can, in essence, be pared down to the best parts of Opeth and Emperor coming together in one cohesive whole. While that description is close though, it doesn’t do the band justice. It is an extremely melodic, heavily symphonic, and nuanced brand of extreme progressive metal. The vocals on this album deserve special mention, and demonstrate their sound quite well. There are well-executed, melodic clean vocals throughout and many ultra-layered sequences with alternating clean vocals and Ihsahn-esque rasps. Some dirtier death growls/roars and Inquisition/Abbath style croaks make appearances, and even some Burzum/Moonsorrow style desperate shrieks show up a few times.

The music is similarly varied - dramatic acoustic based interludes are used often, and very tastefully done. "Winter’s End" is a stunning example of this, as is "Deus Absconditus: Part I". On the metal tracks, strings and piano and other keyboards provide melodic flourishes in the midst of blackened rhythms, and despite the technicality of some sections, the band also shows a lot of restraint for such a new group - every note has it’s place. This is best showcased by the excellent final track, “Rebirth of an Old Nation,” which begins with an Opethian melodic keyboard lead over a thick chord progression.

The conceptual nature of the record also means tracks work to create a coherent whole of a record - they all have a distinct identity, but there are themes that appear throughout the album a few times on different tracks (almost always in different ways). All of this going on lends the record a very high replay value - there’s so much to the music that this seems to be a record one can listen to many times and get different things out of it or find different subtleties in it every time. An ambitious effort, and well worth hearing for fans of Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth, Emperor and even perhaps Moonsorrow or Wintersun.

Wolfhetan - Was der Tag nicht ahnt

Review by Sean Cordes.


Wolfhetan plays an atmospheric, pagan influenced brand of black metal. While that sounds pretty ordinary, they have a very distinct sound. The three-man project from Thuringia is highly melodic, but has as much ferocity as any classic Darkthrone release. Songs are lengthy and at times repetitive but they never overstay their welcome—they shift and develop similar to how Der Weg Einer Freiheit's songs develop, and they form a coherent whole—the songs are journeys in themselves, and they come together to create a larger journey through the album.

There are also some slight progressive touches interspersed throughout the album, including the second track, Abschied, a song which on its own is oddly rhythmic with its swung drums and marching, staccato bassline, but which fits right at home in the context of the album. Clean interludes also make appearances, which is nothing new in black metal, but they are always tastefully done (see here the beautiful final track, Ankunft).

The closest comparison I can draw to Was der Tag nicht ahnt is some similarity with acts like the aforementioned Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Imperium Dekadenz or In the Woods…, and perhaps Nocte Obducta. Be that as it may, the record is, in the end, a masterfully done, decidedly Romantic journey, burgeoning with bittersweet European pride. Volkommenheit and Tagtraum, tracks 3 and 6 respectively, are some of the best black metal tracks to be released this year. Was der Tag nicht ahnt is well worth the almost 70 minute run-time.

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Valborg – Nekrodepression

Review by Sean Cordes.

Artwork by Peter Böhme.

Valborg is one of many obscure, inter-related German acts on the prolific Zeitgeister Music roster. Their music is a gloomy, atmospheric brand of doom with heavy death metal influence and some progressive touches (even a “kraut-rock” feel here and there?) thrown in for good measure. The tones they produce are MASSIVE; the drums punch you in the gut and the guitars, bass, and gruff vocals pummel you to a pulp while you’re down. The formula is pretty simple, but they do it extremely well: simple but good mid-paced, crushing riffs (interspersed with a few faster or more rhythmic ones) are paired with some clean or synthesized interludes that create a dynamic contrast, and make the hulking barbarous mass even heavier. There is a distinctly eerie underpinning to the music here as well, with ringing discordance and the aforementioned clean breaks in the doom.

Despite all that though, there’s some distinctly fun parts to the record that keep it from being too serious an affair (funeral doom, this is not)—take Under the Cross for instance: it conjures the image of a Conan-type character shouting at Christians whilst holding a horn of ale in one hand and brandishing an axe in the other. Meanwhile, Taufe is an entirely ambient keyboard-driven track, showcasing the creepy, somewhat “kraut-rock” vibe Valborg incorporates to their sound. The final two lengthier tracks, In Ekklesia and Opfer, respectively, marry the eerie atmosphere with the crushing heaviness present throughout the album. In the end, Nekrodepression is another excellent, very original work. You won’t hear another record like this all year.

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