Enthroned - Obsidium (2012)

My internet pal Birkir from Iceland and mind behind the blog Halifax Collect (I know it looks like a travel blog, but it's excellent.) has provided me with an early release copy of Enthroned's Obsidium to spew my super professional and expert opinion on. Here's what I had to say:

•  •  •

Grab your cloak of skinned oxen, uncork your vile of goat semen and draw with it a pentagram. Light the candles in thirteen and cuddle up with Enthroned's latest offering Obsidium. Enthroned of Belgium are no strangers to the underground bleakness of black metal, having been around almost two decades since their inception when the band released their split with Ancient Rites in 1994. Now moving forward, let us begin the ritual of writing a review, (hold up, let me grab my sacrificial dagger for inspiration).

Right off the bat, the album name and cover scream "heard this before". Fucking Christ hit us with something gaunt and bleak, we're not twelve we can handle it. Instead were given a black metal version of something Jacob Bannon (Converge) would do if he decided to slather on corpse paint and attack a Photoshop document. Take a page from Lunar Aurora or Darkthrone for fuck's sake.

I digress… With so many bands riding under the blackened flag of black metal it's hard to stand out, and Enthroned definitely don't stray too far from the comforting arms of unoriginality. However, not everything is vanilla flavoured, they make successful effort incorporating a chanted verse here, intriguing riff there and even a heathanistic battle cry or two. Keyboards are present serving as the driving force for the atmosphere, neither overused, nor dominant. It's okay in my books. The vocal range is refreshing, shifting from cold howls to bellowed growls, the occasional croon of incantation and even a distant yell here and there.

I can't sit here and praise this as an unfurling black metal opus, but Obsidium does offer up blistering paced black metal overflowing with blaspheme served on a silver platter, guts and all. Listen to the last song 'Thy Blight Vacuum', it's the albums highlight, and one can attain the sense of force these Belgians can bring to the table. If I'm being an optimist, the song has moments that can be reminiscent to Teitanblood, Mitochondrion or Deathspell Omega albeit the raw dirge they all bring forth. If I'm being realistic it bears more of a resemblance to that of Marduk, Dark Funeral or Setherial.

All in all, I would of liked a little more originality with a more raw and less plastic aesthetic but I have to hand it to Enthroned, they still can deliver songs to punch priests and kick nuns to with a path of destruction in its wake

•  •  •

I wouldn't be doing any favours to the band/label if I were to provide you guys with a download link right now, so I am going to have to hold off on that. Oh wait, I don't actually give a fuck. Okay I do give some fucks, since it would be uncouth, I'll just tell you to look over at this blog with the terrible banner and generic black metal type.

Thank you fellow readers and scum alike!