Enshadowed – Stare into the Abyss

Band: Enshadowed
Title: Stare into the Abyss
Label: Odium Records
Release date: 30 June 2020
Country: Greece
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording

To be perfectly honest, this week I did a thorough checkout of my pick before nailing it down and I did get a bit sceptic when I noticed Enshadowed is from Greece. Now, I haven’t had a lot of luck with bands from Greece since Rotting Christ, however, this one seems to have been active for over 20 years and have countless of work already behind them, so I thought how bad could it really be?

“Stare into the Abyss” is the group´s fourth full length album  and even if I hadn’t particularly kept an eye on this group I got the impression with the first track “An Aspect of Chaos” that black metal has been worked here to its extent. A lot of melody and drive is heard through clear and catchy riffs with little to no dirt as is often the case with black metal. The vocals are on point with the genre and the track is written in an easy-to-understand way. Quite the catchy tune to be first in line. The next two tracks underline the fact that this is an old band that has used its time well to practice and perfect their sound. The mesmerizing snare drum is so tight that it almost puts the listener into a trance, as well as the vocals and guitars do much to keep the tracks relevant and fresh.

“Blackened Mouth of Despair” is quite unexpected and changes abruptly which left me wondering if it was by choice or a fluke, however, the track is the most dynamic so far. By the track “Divided You Fall” I knew for sure that the drummer is doing a very good job because when it comes to the drumming department, speed is what this album is about. Even during the slower paced tracks such as “A Form of Agony” the double bass is still fast and eventually the show is stolen by him once more.

“Entropy of Men” closes this quite strong album and a nice riff carries the song forth. Musically this track is the strongest of them all as it contains everything that makes this group what it is and it ends the album with a huge bang.

If you are into blazing speed, endless groove, riffs that are melodic, beautiful, aggressive and menacing and in general melodic black metal, “Stare into the Abyss” is one you should keep your eye on when the release dates arrives at the end of this month and all in all I’m not disappointed, I even believe my trust in Greek metal might be increasing. 8/10 Julia Katrin

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8/10 To Greatness and glory!
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