Before we begin today’s review, a quick warning: If you are
\nsomeone who believes that rock and roll is the devil’s music, stop
\nreading now. If you’re not open-minded about music, especially
\nmusic that promotes a set of beliefs you don’t agree with, stop
\nreading now. Go check out our archives or something, ’cause you’re
\nnot going to want to read this one.<\/p>\n
Okay, are they gone? Then let’s begin…<\/p>\n
Every once in a while, I’m sent black metal to review; this, for
\nthe uninitiated, is dark, moody music (that may or may not be speed
\nmetal, there’s no real rule to it) that often promotes Satanic
\nbeliefs and downplays the church, especially Catholicism. Being a
\nRoman Catholic, one might expect me to stay away from this type of
\nmusic – and, admittedly, I don’t go searching it out on a regular
\nbasis.<\/p>\n
But whether I agree with the message of the lyrics from a band
\nlike Enthroned or not isn’t the point when I review a disc like
\nthis. I have to put my feelings about their beliefs aside and judge
\nthe album on its musical and songwriting qualities. But that’s
\nenough preaching.<\/p>\n
In 1997, Cernunnos, the drummer for Enthroned, committed
\nsuicide, leaving his remaining bandmates – who were preparing to
\nrecord their next album – in a lurch. The album was eventually
\ncompleted with the help of a session drummer, but their grieving
\nprocess would be completed with the release of the mini-album
\nRegie Sathanas: A Tribute To Cernunnos<\/i> in 1998. (The disc is
\njust being released in America by Metal Blade.) The album tries to
\ntie the past with the present, and features the new incarnation of
\nthe band tackling some of their older material, including some
\npre-Enthroned songs written by Cernunnos.<\/p>\n
This Belgian quartet – bassist\/vocalist Sabathan, guitarists
\nNornagest and Nabiros and new drummer Namroth Blackthorn – pull no
\npunches in delivering both the bleak realities of their beliefs and
\nthe crunching power of their music. While I would have done a few
\nminor things differently (like bumped up the treble and lowered the
\nmidrange just a touch), Enthroned do manage to create some powerful
\nsongs that, while not the kind of stuff you’d slap on during Sunday
\ndinner, are nice outlets of energy during the day.<\/p>\n
After the instrumental opener “Prelude To Satan’s Avengers”
\n(featuring some ominous sounding groans from the band), the group
\nkicks things into overdrive with “By Dark Glorious Thoughts”. While
\nyou still need the lyric sheet to follow what Sabathan is saying,
\nhis vocal delivery is clearer than one would expect from a band of
\nthis ilk. And the lyrics? Well, they’re descriptive – but, to be
\nhonest, I’ve heard scarier things in my time.<\/p>\n
If there was ever a question of their beliefs, Enthroned
\neliminate them with tracks like “Satan Never Sleeps” and a new
\nrendition of “Deny The Holy Book Of Lies”. Musically, these songs
\nooze power, and while I kept waiting for both guitarists to just
\nopen up the floodgates and set their axes on full shred, they both
\nchoose more moderation in their solos. (In the end, maybe this was
\nthe best route for them to take.) Add into the mix a cover of
\nSodom’s “The Conqueror”, the original “Walpurgis Night” and a brief
\ninstrumental ending (“Outro”), and the memorial to their fallen
\nbandmate is completed.<\/p>\n
While I recognize that
\nRegie Sathanas<\/i> was put together to help the band come to
\ngrips with the loss of their bandmate and friend, I do wonder why
\nthe disc was kept so short. Granted, a lot of discs in this vein
\nI’ve heard in recent months aren’t much longer, but at least
\nEnthroned have the musical talent to justify clocking in a little
\nmore listening time.<\/p>\n
\nRegie Sathanas: A Tribute To Cernunnos<\/i> is definitely in a
\nleague of its own, and if you’re considering buying it, you should
\nbe warned that the lyrical content is quite raw and descriptive.
\nBut, if you are into the black metal scene, then the release of
\nthis disc on this side of the Atlantic should be welcome news to
\nyou – and it is, in the end, both enjoyable and a fitting memorial
\nto Cernunnos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7489],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39186","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-enthroned","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39186"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}