ENTHEOS — Acédie (review)

Album · 2024 · Technical Death Metal

3.5/5 · 2024-03-01
siLLy puPPy

ENTHEOS, not to be confused with the USA based band of the same name, emerged in Montreal, Canada first as Givre but in 2014 changed to the current moniker and then followed the next year with its debut “Ototeman” which featured a progressive atmospheric style of black metal with original singer Jean-Lou David. With this lineup they released two albums, the sophomore effort titled “Le Zahir” and then ENTHEOS returned as a 3-piece for the 2020 EP titled “Continent.”

After a few years of reorganizing ENTHEOS has returned with newbie vocalist Laurent Bellemare and a shift from the world of atmospheric black to the world of Gorguts inspired technical death metal. ACÉDIE places the band in the modern world of technical disso-death in the vein of Sunless, Ulcerate, Veilburner and a whole slew of modern noise makers. This album is rather short with only six tracks that don’t even add up to 30 minutes playing time but the impact these caustic beasts of sonic terror leave is no less than exhilarating.

Clearly channeling the works of Luc Lemay and his projects (especially Gorguts), ENTHEOS delivers a chaotic stream of consciousness type of disso-death with caustic jangly chords turned up to 11 and off-kilter time signature workouts that place this clearly in the progressive arena. While the emphasis is more on the tech death metal of modern days, the blackened aspects still are retained in the creepy tones of the guitar and atmospheric contributions. The band walks a tight line between chaotic dissonant death metal in the vein of Ad Nauseam and other crazy avant-garde bands and a more accessible post-metal procession that sorta repeats the riffs with the crazy guitar fills offering some freaky off-kilter wildness.

The only track that deviates form the incessant brutality is the all acoustic guitar intermission “L’étouffeur” which lasts slightly more than a minute and although not metal features the same eerie atmospheres that accompany the album’s run. The final track “Cauchemar” jumps back into the brutal death metal banter only with an stronger atmospheric gloom in the forefront. This chugging manic number is a stand out with jittery choppy riffs that alternate with the acoustic guitars introduced in the previous track along with freaky eerie synthesized backdrops. The track is better at offering a diverse palette of dynamics which segregates it from the rest of the album.

While i wouldn’t consider ACÉDIE or ENTHEOS in general anyway groundbreaking or offering a style that hasn’t been well covered so far, i have to admit that this album is a very interesting mix of disso-death with blackened elements made all the more alienating with the progressive accoutrements. The vocals are most like those of Gorguts with that tortured dungeon beast sort of effect. The riffs are just accessible enough to follow easily while the chaos is always threatening to derail the entire process. A nice mix of tension on this one and clearly a band that still has a lot of potential that perhaps they will take further in the future. As for the overall sound, this is a dead ringer for that classic Montreal tech death scene and while not the top dog of the style, clearly has the chops to get there.