Enthroned is back among the living.
After a period of calm, the band featuring Nornagest (vocals, The Beast) and Menthor (drums, Bestia Arcana, Death like Mass, Nightbringer, Epping Forest…) recruited T. Kaos (guitar/bass, Death like Mass, Lvcifyre, Sodality) to deliver their twelfth album, Ashspawn, via Season of Mist.
Crawling Temples welcomes us into a disturbing universe quickly populated by Nornagest‘s tortured screams and massive riffs infused with virulent Old School tones that make the atmosphere both icy and aggressive. The vocalist knows how to be more theatrical to relaunch the assault, but it is with Basilisk Triumphant that follows that we really become aware of the haunting side of the sound, which even offers a few piercing leads, but also moments of visceral fury. However, the song gives way a little too quickly to the impressive Stillborn Litany and its deep, oppressive tones which, coupled with the violence of the band’s roots, are amplified tenfold and contrast with the slower passages. The haunting finale allows us to transition smoothly into the devastating title track, Ashspawn, which floods us with its darkness and proves particularly suffocating, veering towards a rather unusual dimension that perfectly suits the band’s well-known striking force. There are still a few more old-school touches, particularly in the chaotic leads, then Raviasamin follows suit with a ritualistic introduction that contaminates the assault of the entire track and allows for much more diverse vocals than usual. The short Sightless returns to Black Metal’s rough and abrasive sound, while allowing for slower or even dissonant flights of fancy, particularly on the solo, but the assault returns with Chysalid, which brings us a rather melodious touch even as Nornagest goes wild. The track also ends fairly quickly, allowing Ashen Advocacy to establish its oppressive atmosphere with a haunting intro and a few samples, then the band attacks in turn, very slow and jerky, but the rhythm explodes in the second half of the track before breaking down and returning to slowness. There is one last burst of energy before we reach Assertion, which takes a while to get going but is just as massive as its predecessors, offering waves of dark violence before invoking the forces of darkness to close the album.
Ashspawn has been described as their most ambitious album, and I understand why. From its virulent and icy roots to suffocating passages filled with hellish screams, Enthroned now knows how to make its dark arts transcendent. The band has definitely reached a new level.
95/100