ENTHEAN — Priests of Annihilation (review)

ENTHEAN — Priests of Annihilation album cover Album · 2016 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Nightfly
It’s always great when you discover a new band that blows you away. Such a recent discovery for me is USA death metaller’s Enthean (Thanks Adam!). To call Enthean simply death metal though is only giving you a small part of the picture. Sure, there’s no shortage of technical death metal riffs and blast beats but we also get prog metal, some black metal and symphonic elements. The eight compositions contain a myriad of changes ranging from some pretty brutal riffing to quiet calm. Complex for sure but a strong sense of melody is rarely absent.

It’s the dynamics present in these songs along with the melody that make it such a captivating listen, Before You, I Am being the perfect example. There’s plenty of technical parts but not at the expense of killer riffs. These guys are no slouches either with each player at the top of their game. Some of the songs break the seven minute barrier giving them plenty of chance to stretch out, but to be honest they still manage to fit a lot in on even the shorter songs and to their credit do so without it becoming fragmented. It doesn’t get any better than Behold the Primordial where compelling riffs and shredding are set against some effective orchestration. In fact these orchestral elements are an integral part of the band’s sound and are going to help them stand out in an over-crowded extreme metal world. The production’s pretty good too, everything’s clear enough, but if I had a minor complaint it could just do with sharpening up a bit and a little more bite.

If you’re into the more extreme side of metal and enjoy it when different sub-genres collide then Enthean could just be the band for you. Well worth checking out and a band to keep an eye on in the future.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

I, the Destroyer Black Metal
SVARTFJELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us