Illuminations of Vile Engorgement

Death metal since day one has been a thoroughly unfriendly genre. Black metal for all of its aspirations as the most extreme of metal styles has a vague feeling of escapism behind it -whether supernatural or in some misty dew-scented forest- and while doom is full of dire prophesies and hopeless, dreary death marches it lacks the immediate, violent, crushing end that death metal promises. No chance of escape, no hope of redemption or triumph via Satan or whatever, no sunset lit vistas near your end, no icey dragontowers or what have you, just blackness followed by oblivion. The end, death, etc.

Thus, it's not much of a surprise that I consider this album to be the peak of the genre; at the very least very close to it. Not the most enjoyable dm album I own, by a long shot, but certainly the most pure, the album closest to the source. An album as pure and sure as oblivion, an album as black, as alien and as incomprehensible as death. No concessions, no one spared, this isn't music (is it music?) to enrich the soul, this isn't a harsh listen that scourges the body and clears the mind, this is as close to an approximation of death as you'd get.

I love the way that Enmity have assembled the sonics of this album; for one thing, this is as close to the most technical, mind bending music you'll ever hear (various calls about the instruments not playing in time, not playing in a time signature (is that possible?) are laughable, at best), but by the same token the music itself has been stripped back to it's most bare, degraded components; a guitar that does little but produce horrible skronks and chunk sounds with absolutely no melody whatsoever, whilst the drummer spends his time in weirdo slam territory when he's not blasting out equally wrong sounding, er, blasts. One thing is certain- they both know exactly what they're doing, even though we the listeners are unlikely to understand. I'm not the first reviewer to say this, and I won't be the last- the lack of concessions, the lack of anything that could be called "normal music" or even "normal brutal death metal" is rather stunning. I don't think this album requires much BDM experience, but moreso the ability to appreciate extremity for its own sake- what else is this an expression of, after all?

Don't be fooled though; single minded as this is it sure as shit isn't a gimmick. After a few songs what is initially a fun, interesting novelty listen becomes something else entirely. No, the subtleties don't make themselves apparent as there aren't any. The atmosphere, the vision does, though; it doesn't take too long to realize that Enmity aren't going for catchiness, or for heaviness in a traditional sense, really; just sheer, utter, unblinking brutality; permanent death, eternal oblivion, etc, and damn does it work. It'd be interesting to see if their other releases are of a similar standard; previous attempts at gazing, staring into the void (from Reign in Blood to Seven Churches to Wold's Screech Owl) are rarely matched with follow up records. And Enmity have looked into the abyss like few have previously; you won't find many doom records as dark, as many black metal records that remain as unflinchingly misanthropic.

Yes, this is an atmospheric masterpiece that's worth hearing by everyone as the high point of death metal artistry, as the most extreme record yet released- 5 years and running, which I find quite a staggering achievement. Not hugely enjoyable, but a massive step forward for the death metal genre, and for music as a whole. That it's essential listening is unquestionable. Only death is real!