Illuminations of Vile Engorgement

Perhaps you think death metal is becoming too focused on trying to be as brutal as possible, at the expense of proper riffing and songwriting and catchiness? Well, here's what Enmity have to say on the subject, according to an interview:

“We believe that death metal is all about extreme brutality, and is the sole reason for it's existence. Therefore the sicker the better.”

So these guys are looking at bands like Disgorge, Devourment, and the other Disgorge and thinking to themselves: you know, that's not bad, but it could be a bit more brutal and possibly a little more sick. Now, it's not like those bands are totally lacking in brutality and sickness – they're more brutal and sick than, say, Enya or the Bee Gees – but they're not quite as brutal or as sick as they could be. And so Enmity have set about to ameliorate this deficiency. The guitarist does what he can do obscure the fact that he's playing an instrument designed for the decidedly un-brutal purpose of playing notes and chords. Instead, we hear a lot of chunk-chunk sounds, some whirring, buzzes, squeals... and from the drummer, a whole lot of blast beats.

Arguably, this can be considered music. It might be one hell of an argument, though, depending on who you pick it with. Try explaining to a normal person why going “bleeeeaaaughghghg!” for half an hour can be construed as a vocal performance. I'm not sure if there are any lyrics. Not much point, since he's not saying them. Anyway, you'd best be seasoned going into this.

Have you ever stared at TV static? At first it looks totally random, but after a while you become hypnotized and you start to see little patterns in the fuzz. The little white specks look like little bees milling around one another. Bees do not randomly mill, you know. They have a plan.

I perceive some order to Enmity's music, and I'm pretty sure I'm not just hallucinating it. It's kind of technical with regards to the guitar work, and by that I mean that the horrible noises he's making are awkwardly-timed, and consistently so. It sounds made-up on the spot, or possibly an accident, but then he does the same thing again so you know it must not be. Don't expect much in the way of hooks and grooves.

Anyway, Enmity do a pretty good job of being Enmity, and I think they take what they're doing fairly seriously – just don't listen to this hoping for Morbid Angel or Bolt Thrower or even Suffocation. In a way, this is some of the weirdest music I've ever heard, even if it does all come out of brutal death metal stereotypes. I like to listen to it; not much use in trying to completely rationalize it.