Artist: Enshroud
Title: Despise The Light
Type: Album
Label: Digital / Nocturnal Curse
This is the second Enshroud album I think, a project of the ever active Ysbryd of Ysbrydnos and Altar Of Moss amongst others. Enshroud I guess scratches that itch for something a little more of the raw black metal with atmospherics than his other projects
A fine, echoing gothic intro of ‘The Master’s Resurrection’ is obliterated by a vicious and keening low-fi black metal attack. ‘Corpses Piled High’ high, completely rabid vocals and a guitar heavy bass lite searing riff slicing deep until the low moans and the shift into a dark, gloomy passage. I do get kind of very, very early Cradle Of filth vibes somehow, just a little. But far better, more varied vocals and just a fantastic bloodthristy opener that shows what some might call a thinner sound can actually achieve with aggression and knife sharp songwriting.
As the cover suggests we are deep in the catacombs of the nosferatu here. ‘Coffin Nails PT 1: Wolfen’ is a pure thrashing ball of raw black metal. Once more the variety of the vocals is excellent; here they are lower, more growled, the song a fast, harsh attack. ‘The Thing In The Corner (He Is Loose)’ hits that punked up spor bang on the head. Primitive batter and hammer but the weird melody lines in the background keep this eccentirc and off kilter. Its like watching a low budget horror film and suddenly, to your utter shock, you realise that you have been locked rigid by its punch. Excellent.
‘Mournful Vampire’s Lament’ is a short instrumental, a wonderful, creaky, slow turning dance. The soundtrack to some silent film. The grainy images woven by the crackle of the record.
‘Coffin Nails Part II: To The Gallows With A Bite’ is an insistent fast stomp. Bitter and malicious but with the horrible feeling of intelligence lurking behind the insanity. Short, nasty and proof of how good you have to be to make something like this work so damned well. It trails away with a the eerie, broken calliope sound and… ‘Lych Bell’. Swirling witth meandering vocals and grinding guitar, the jerking riff rising, falling, rising again. Somewhere the shackles have slipped and a scrabbling, frenzied presence seems to search for something. Perhaps for you. It reek of death, and of madness and is quite, quite wonderful.
It closes with ‘Despise The Light’. A tinkling keyboard beginning, the breath of John Carpenter and Goblin whispering across your skin. The slow black metal song that it ushers in is downbeat, rank with evil but something, just something in it’s gorgeous blending of melodic guitar and keyboard wash bring not just a creeping horror but a terrible recognition of some emotion you could understand, just maybe, if you survive.
(The instrumental version with the download highlights just how beautifully the song is arranged, how the parts work so superbly with each other and I am so glad it was included. But I do love the vocal version too.)
I’m not sure how I can tell you how much I love this album. It is such a fine combination of the raw, primitive attack of black metal and the eerie, gothic shadow drenched atmosphere of a true composer. But best of all the songs... oh the songs here are just superb.
Please do NOT sleep on this album. Enshroud have presented us with something perfect for cold misty nights and the bitter, damp air. Never has a label been so perfectly named for a release.
Gizmo
Walking The Liminal Space 