Belgium's black metal veterans Enthroned are back with their latest release of sonic mayhem called Tetra Karcist, a pulverizing juggernaut of agonizing vocals, blast beats, and raging guitar riffs. Taking over on lead vocals this time around is their guitarist Nornagest, after the departure of singer Sabathan. The guitarist does a commendable job here, fitting in very nicely with his tortured screams and growls, as if he's been doing this his whole career. Listen to him shrieking away amidst plenty of atmospheric yet brutally heavy arrangements on "Tellum Scorpionis", or spewing out maniacal screams on the blast beat frenzy of "Pray". While most of Tetra Karcist is chocked full of more of the same, perhaps that's part of the problem here-you're not going to get anything that band's like Marduk and Dark Funeral aren't already offering. That won't necessarily be a bad thing to some, as blistering, brutal black metal, no matter how original or chiched it might be, is always in demand among fans of the genre. It's just that Enthroned have been around now for close to 15 years, and you would have expected their 'magnum opus' at this point. Tetra Karcist is very solid, very well played (hey, they even throw some guitar solos in their songs-how about that!), but it's not quite at that "wow" level that we might have expected. If they can start combining aspects of the awesome instrumental "Deviant Nerve Angelus", which has some creepy effects and tons of atmosphere, with the pummeling excellence of something like "Through the Cortex", all in one song, then these guys might really be onto something. Let's hope next time around they can show us why they should be looked at as one of the leaders in the black metal world, but in the meantime there is still plenty to enjoy here on this one.
Track Listing
1. Ingressus Regnum Spiritus
2. Pray
3. Tellum Scorpionis
4. Deviant Nerve Angelus
5. Burning Dawn, The
6. Through The Cortex
7. Seven Ensigns Of Creation, The
8. Nox
9. Vermin
10. Antares
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