On first listen, the unintelligible, demoniacal, blood-curdling screams and unending, distorted BM riffing of Henosis make for a dark ambience akin to a holiday in a low budget apartment on the outskirts of Pandemonium. Primitive, war-like, and laden with enough doom to make Marvin the Paranoid Android appear happier than an excited teenager on a promise, this is the sound of dread, fear, and annihilation – aka the end of times. Translating as a "union with what is fundamental in reality: the One, the Source or Monad", the philosophical and musical landscape that the title promises is far reaching. Further reaching than what is delivered, unfortunately. It takes more than abundant distortion and lo-fi production to make even a decent black metal album. The lyrical content may very well be fascinating but the sheer lack of clarity – even by BM standards – stymies the full appreciation of what may have been a better-than-average corpus. What is memorable about this record is the agonising journey through the sonic devastation. This is where the album's strength lies. The structures have clearly been designed to build and shape the experience so that each blackened blow can be effusively savoured and absorbed into the whole dismal encounter. But the journey invites little return. Once explored a few times, there is very little that remains to be discovered. For traditional black metal fans only and maybe those that fancy the occasional holiday on the periphery of the abyss.
Track Listing
1. One
2. Vision of the Twelve Priests Before the Altar
3. I Am Not Worthy to Utter Thy Name
4. Henosis
5. An Enlightened Aeon
6. The Immortal Realm of Barbelo
7. Yaldabaoth
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