News from Enterré Vivant are expected in 2025.
Between France and Japan, Erroiak (all instruments/vocals, Aeterna Tenebrae, Hrad, Oppressive Light, Suicidal Madness…) and Sakrifiss (vocals, Peurbleue) unveil their third album, Akuzaï, on Antiq Records.
The album begins with the introductory track Jaken, featuring a sampled Japanese voice, crackling fire, and flutes that become increasingly dissonant before reaching Chûtô, where we are greeted by a gentle guitar melody. After a minute, the saturation of Black Metal ignites the atmosphere and furious screams appear, definitively tinging the airy harmonics with a relatively soothing darkness that lulls us until Sesshô transforms it into raw aggression. The Old School mix skillfully contributes to the dark and abrasive veil that surrounds us, while the vocalist adopts a suitably distressing attitude, at times replacing his vindictive screams, but a few samples once again intrude on the rhythm, whether explosive or relaxing. The finale remains quite macabre, as does Warugushi, where the growls resume in the company of wolves, allowing us to catch our breath before Jain offers us his melodious keyboards and develops haunting riffs over which the vocalist unleashes himself, but the synthesizers develop their modern sounds and create an interesting contrast. The surprising break gives us a moment of respite, thanks in particular to its long sample accompanied by fairly simple rhythms, then Don’yoku brings us back to that disturbing atmosphere, colored by heavy riffs and various sampled voices between two anguished screams, but the rhythms accelerate again to welcome crows before joining Môgo. A raspy voice and a flute respond to each other and tell us their mournful story before letting riffs and majestic orchestrations take over Shin’i, delivering an epic and ethereal performance while retaining the shadowy tones. The strange cries borrowed from DSBM resurface, replaced by very regular oppressive lyrics in French before giving way to Kigo, whose atmosphere oscillates between calm and horror, alternating between majestic phases, almost stripped-down moments, and more raw parts. The track comes to an end with an almost avant-garde approach, finally joining Ryôshita, the last rather disturbing composition where choirs and cries of anguish mingle in a more than gloomy atmosphere, reminiscent of one of those old black and white films.
Enterré Vivant has always offered a unique and often extremely disturbing universe, mixing raw black metal and strange samples, but Akuzaï takes it to the next level. The album can make anyone feel uncomfortable in no time and feed off their anxiety.
80/100
