Enthroned – ‘Obsidium’

Belgian black metal mob Enthroned have been slowly carving out a reputation for themselves as one of the continent’s more accomplished, if hardly innovative, black metal outfits, and this ninth album is as solid as anything the genre has produced in the last couple of decades.

There’s nothing hugely original in the nine tracks offered here – although the likes of ‘Oblivious Shades’, ‘Petralevm Salvia’ and the huge progressive epic ‘Thy Blight Vacuum’ do stand head and shoulders above much of the dross the European BM scene has produced in the past number of years – but it’s nonetheless an extremely impressive addition to the genre.

Taking its cue very much from the Scandinavian school of blackened extremism, from the tortured riffing through the supersonic blastbeating to the surprisingly clear vocals of frontman Nornagast, there are some clear sparks of individualism, such as on each of the aforementioned tracks and the doom/grindcore flavoured opener, ‘Sepulchred Within Orange Slumber’.

Overall, a worthy 7.5/10

Track list:

1. Sepulchred Within Orange Slumber
2. Nonus Sacramentvm – Obsidium
3. Horns Aflame
4. Deathmoor
5. Oblivious Shades
6. The Final Architect
7. Petralevm Salvia
8. Oracle Ov Void
9. Thy Blight Vacuum

‘Obsidium’ is out now on Agonia Records.