Customer Reviews

Xes Haereticum

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Enthroned are one of the few remaining BlackMetalbands that play "True" BM. They haven't changed their style, or slowed down either. Each song on this Digi-pak edition is played with fierce aggression, fast blastbeat drumming, Sabathan's eerie vocals and piercing bass dominate. The 3 bonus tracks are awesome as well, "Under The Guillotine" by Kreator as being my favorite.If you enjoy bands like Older Marduk, 90's Mayhem,etc, you'll eat this one up.

Enthroned are one of the few that can stick to the TRUE black metal form nowdays and not end up becoming poser black metal like Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir. This is this their latest album and it is a great black metal effort. The vocals are hellish and grim, the guitar work is good, but the songs are too much alike. Oh well, the CD is still pretty damn good. F**k Death Cult Armageddon and Nymphetamine, thats poser s**t!!!
For new and TRUE black metal get Enthroned or Marduk.

Having purchased this CD, I really haven't been able to rate its level of quality too well. On one hand, this CD holds some amazing, strong, fast, and harsh guitar playing and drum manipulation. On the other hand, though, the vocalist has a few recognizable flaws (in my opinion, at least), and some songs sound as if they are too much alike. This isn't a bad CD by any means, but I do think it could use some work in its efforts to be great.


Track reviews:

Crimson Legions- A pretty great opening, featuring some ultra fast drum arrangements and guitar work. The vocals are pretty agitating a times, but I've never been a fan of the front-man's style of vocalization, anyway...so I guess it doesn't matter too much.

Dance Of A Thousand Knives- The way the lead vocalist sort of forces himself to talk his lines, yet scream at the same time, definitely doesn't fit this song too well. Also, it sounds almost too familiar after hearing Crimson Legions. On the bright side, it has some interesting guitar solos during a few intervals. Not a horrible song, but not too good either.

Last Will- Demonstrates Enthroned's trademark hyper-speed guitar work and waits only a few seconds after beginning until executing the vocals. This track is pretty intense for the most part, and offers some slight variation from the other tracks. I think it would sound a bit better if it differed just a little more, though.

Blacker Than Black- Begins with some angry, willful vocal lines and a mediocre sounding guitar riff...and eventually steers off into a short instrumental break where the vocalist sounds off some demonic laughter, which is actually pretty genuine sounding. Subsequent to its instrumental break, the song kicks off again and reuses its beginning riffs, following this pattern until its conclusion. I'd say this is one of the better songs on the CD.

Vortex Of Confusion- Starts off with the melodious sound of strumming on the guitar, and then takes the usual turn into Enthroned's way of using blast-beats while playing extremely fast guitar riffs and drum lines. Unfortunately, the vocals on this song don't do much for its sound...and sort of ruin it in my opinion.

A.M.S.G- Opens with some haunting ambience and then kicks in with the some mellow guitar playing. It keeps its ambience throughout the entire song, but gets a bit heavier with the guitar playing at each interlude. No vocals are offered in this track.

Daemon's Claw- The beginning minutes are pretty good for grabbing your attention with some more brutally fast guitar and rapid drum playing. A few vocal layers in this song help to ease the annoyance caused by the front-man's usual vocal flaws, but unfortunately don't last throughout the whole song. Overall, it's a short but fairly good song, despite the problems with the front-man and his vocal technique.

Night Stalker- Doesn't show much variation from the other songs, except the fact that it's a bit faster than a couple previous tracks. It's pretty extreme, nevertheless.

Seven Plagues, Seven Wrath (XES Revelation)- Opens with the unique sound of what seems to be some sort of tribal music, and then picks up with Enthroned's signature guitar work and drum lines. Interestingly enough, though, this song features some clean singing in its chorus that oddly corresponds well with the abrasiveness of the front-man's shrieks. Enthroned did a great job with making this song noticeably different from the others.

Carnage In Worlds Beyond- Presumably in connection with Enthroned's "Carnage In Worlds Beyond" release, this song begins with some very edgy and heavy guitars, as most of the songs on this LP do. It gets a bit monotonous after awhile, but scores about a 9 out of 10 in fashionably executed instrumental intensity. This track also holds some more great guitar solos.


I don't know why, but my CD only has 10 songs on it...so I could only review those ten. But anyway, based on those ten, this CD is most likely worth checking out, especially if you're looking for some musical severity and great musicianship. It's only flaws would have to be how there's not much difference amongst songs (which seems to be a common problem among black metal bands in general)...and how the vocalization might be a bit too much for some people, depending on opinion. If that doesn't bother you too much, though, don't be scared to give this LP a try.

Man, this is an awesome cd. All the songs are really good and my favorites are tracks 1,4,5, and 6. My version didn't come with the bonus tracks so I can't comment on those but it is hard to find any faults with this cd. The lyrics are very good and there isn't really that much Satanic stuff on here as that is becoming quite a bore after all these years. I especially like A.M.S.G even though its an instrumental the kinda techno synth beats go really well with the guitars. Overall, if your looking for a newer black metal release that hasn't gone the mainstream route of Cradle of Filth(still like em though), then definitely be sure to check this out. Enthroned are a truly talented band and I look forward to their next cd.