Band: Ensorcelor Country: Montréal, Quebec
Style: Blackened Doom/Sludge Metal
Label: Media Tree Recordings
Oh how I remember first hearing that "Urarctica Begins" EP last year and being blown away by it. Sure, things about the style of that EP weren't super original or creative, but it was crushingly heavy, and the experience of listening to it remained with me. Upon hearing that this album was being released, it was one that quickly rose up my most anticipated releases.
The two tracks that comprise this full-length are lengthy, drawn-out pieces of doom/sludge that just take everything the band did on their EP to the next level. The band manage to make their sound sound so much slower and almost tranquil sounding at the same time while they constantly build towards the concluding moments of a track. By Mycomancy Insumed is a track that's pretty slow and depressive, at times, track that rarely decides to move past a snails pace, expect for about a minute and a half of black metal tremolo riffing near the end of the track. I really enjoyed how both of these tracks always finished with a more black metal sort of sound after building from the doom one, maybe not an original idea, but it's done really well to marvellous affect.
Like I mentioned above, there's something almost depressive about these tracks, but not in the phony or off-putting way, more natural and authentic. It's something I find occurs when a doom or sludge metal band maintain a very blackened atmosphere, where there's just something so intensely draining about a song, or album, that it really just brings the listener further and further down emotionally. Then again, there's also something just a bit romantic and introspective about this album as well, the cleaner guitar moments really just take this brutal doom sound and make it more tangible for a moment and allow the listener to sort of breathe for a moment. The romanticism comes into play for how the sound sort of just, to me anyway, had this early My Dying Bride or Anathema quality to it, where the music just sort of has this slow swaying vibe to it, where it's heavy and brutal but melodic and mournful as well.
Overall, this is a great debut full-length that just has all the good qualities a doom metal record should have. While I have to say that the shipping from Canada for this thing was a bit pricey, the music on here was well worth it. Definitely check this band out if you want to hear some high quality doom metal with a bit of black metal influence.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Crucifuge
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