ENTHRONED – Pentagrammaton CD review

ENTHRONED – Pentagrammaton CD
Regain Records

Nornagest, the vocalist/guitarist and last man standing from this band’s early beginning, is somewhat of a hero to yours truly. He represents that black metal everyman. Nornagest is a craftsman when it comes to this genre and yet most people into black metal don’t even know it. In fact a few months back I was talking to some people about ENTHRONED and they all thought the band were Scandinavian as in from Norway, Sweden or Finland. As I explained to them ENTHRONED are from Belgium and if they would have just disappeared after releasing their essential 1995 release Prophecies of Pagan Fire then their reputation would be legendary. Unfortunately they’ve been slogging it out in black metal’s over crowded second tier since the mid-90s without ever reaching the pinnacle of that past blackened glory. It’s not that they haven’t been trying to bust out either since they’ve consistently released some decent full lengths every few years. Now for some people, music critics especially, consistency is not enough. This is why the words “hipster” and “trendy” are treated with scorn from me. Some clowns like to point to Nornagest‘s revolving door of bandmates as a cause for never breaking out. I disagree because in his case satanism and occultism are the main subjects behind the band’s music. If you’re not understanding of that then you’re not gonna cut it. For those of you out there who have never given ENTHRONED a chance because of what critical circle jerkoffs opine about them, then here’s a good way to start.

Pentagrammaton offers up what mainman Nornagest has been crafting for years and that’s furious Second Wave era black metal with a thick sound that’s relentless. One of the reasons I say thick is because contrary to other bands you can actually hear the bass being played. The guitars are full on distortion to the point where you just want to scream “ahhhh” but that’s a good thing. Since the production value on Pentagrammaton is far superior to original Second Wave BM recordings then the guitars sound better than a disgruntled beehive. Adding new drummer, Garghuf, is also a plus since his performance on here is exceptional. When this guy goes into blastbeat mode, which is on most of this release, it’s like sitting through an artillery barrage. The final ingredient is Nornagest himself who gives one of the best recorded vocal performances of this year from a BM perspective. Since the lyrics are more from a personal perspective then you can understand the harsh emotion which he displays at certain times while at others he’s down right sinister. There’s no faux BM bullshit here, this is pure fucking conviction. There are few bands from this genre’s second wave that are still around today let alone still create something that doesn’t sound dated or average. In 2007 I was one of the few people who thought their Tetra Karcist CD was a better than decent release. While others, critics, were wondering why a band like ENTHRONED were still vital to a metal genre that in their minds had expanded far from its original roots. I kept my hand out ready to shake Nornagest’s and tell him I can’t wait to hear what you have planned next. Three years later I have (the music that is, I still haven’t met the guy) and am here to tell you this is one of the better releases of 2010.

www.regainrecords.com