LP Review: "Seasons of Desolation" by Enisum

Seasons of Deslolation

One of the worst travesties committed by the purveyors of extreme metal is that many of them are not playing songs.

When the idea of heavy overpowers the idea of song structure, well then, Houston, we have a problem.

The Heavy Metal Arms Race, as I've described it in the past, is alive and well. The ideas that triggering MOAR BLAST BEETZ and DOWNTUNE TO DROPPED L and adding an effect to the vocals to bring it down three octaves some how helps the song is Sean Spicer Grade Bullionum.

Heavy Music is something that can be as beautiful as it is heavy. It's a common misconception that all metal is dark, ugly, and foreboding. Many times the kind of music, which I'm lampooning right now, seems to have been written by the detractors of heavy metal in order to prove that their points of view are correct.

(some of) Ensium

Metallica's James Hetfield talked about dynamics in the past. Consider the fact that what you're used to becomes the norm instead of being shocking.

When you live in a City, like mine, that snow and 70 degrees can exist in the same day, you're no longer surprised when it's snowing in the late afternoon, just annoyed that it takes your car ten minutes to warm up because you didn't bring a jacket.

Now, all of that, was to point out that Ensium is more than just heavy, more than just progressive, and more than just  your standard black metal band that's still got the charred markings of a burning church on their clothes.

Atmospheric Black Metal, to this guy, is more akin to American Metal. It's more than just an assault by the vocals. Even in the main riff parts, you know those parts I'm talking about, there's always a song. There's always a groove.

The rhythm section is playing in the pocket. It's amazing what happens when you add a little more structure to music. With the basis of Seasons of Desolation firmly in place, it would have taken an act of Sisyphian failure to make this a bad album.

That's where Ensium says, hold my beer.

From this grooving, atmospheric black metal, they then add a second layer of deep fried awesome to it by making it dynamic. The changes from melody to nuhnuh nuhnuh riffs to the clean vocals...this album has gone to a new place.

Ensium  has created one of the best albums of the year with Seasons of Desolation, and that's not just in their sub-sub-genre, their sub-genre, or their genre.

Don't wait on this one.

Relase: 4/27/17
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Label: Avantgarde Music
Formats: CD/Digital
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