Omega Telocvovim

This is actually very different from what I first expected from this band, having read a few articles on them in the past and a couple of reviews of their music in the more 'mainstream' extreme metal magazines. Of course what these musicians have going for them from the start is the fact that they're from Finland, the capital of all things strange in metal, and I should have known that they would exceed my rather paltry expectations. What is it about Finland that makes the music there seem so original? Is it the isolation, the weather? The national character, the political system? Or it just something in the water?

In any case, this is a really striking album. When it comes down to it, I prefer as a matter of personal taste the stranger or more obscure sides of black metal, and this band is all about exploring an individual and highly stylized approach to occult music. Notice I said 'occult', not 'cult': there is a difference, believe it or not. I mean 'occult' in its most obvious definition: music that takes influence from hidden sources, music that brings forth or summons emotions that are singular, mysterious, elusive, and exclusive. The most 'cult' bands, I have found, are often the worst musicians and so are completely incapable of composing music that is transcendent in any way. This determination is something that I feel most metal fans can not grasp easily, so I'll give you a simple equation to make it as clear as an azure sky: Darkthrone, occult. Messe Noir, cult. Do you see it? Another: Burzum, occult. Acheron, cult. Becoming clearer?

I don't see Enochian Crescent reaching the top of the pop charts anytime soon because they reveal over the course of this album a frame of mind and a melodic sensibility that are so venomous and atavistic they can not hope to escape offending. This is a barbaric slice of Northern-most hatred, and I revel in the waves of misanthropic joy that this music gives off. The vocalist's screams of agony could strip paint from twenty paces away, the rousing pagan choruses and grand harmonics are chilling in their alien splendor: this is music from another time, another place - a much darker world where gods of benevolence have been raped and strangled and the men who are left on Earth shriek insanely in the wilderness. Tales of grand golden drama spill from the vocalist's mouth, flowing like poisonous black blood. The guitars spin and soar, gallop and strike, converting their own sound into lances and spears covered with the blood of decadents. The bass rumbles and grinds lightlessly far underground in subterranean worm holes, the drums creak and groan, whip and crack, calling the faithful to war with their skull-smashing might. More than anything else, the music on this disc and the imagery employed by this band reminds me of the enormous difference between the sunny sweet nature of life as it is enjoyed by the Mediterranean races and the freezing grim frostbitten fate of the Scandinavian tribes, throughout history. In Tacitus (or is it Livy?) there is a fascinating account of a search a Roman war party has to conduct for their stolen golden standard (the Imperial Eagle that is carried at the head of the marching army) after they lose it in an ambush to a band of German forest warriors: the terrifying flight through black woods, the descent into the underground temples that the murderous Goths worshiped in, the paralyzing fear that the Romans felt when plunging into these darkened places of profane idols, the grinning savages covered with animal skins and wolf heads that awaited them silently in the gloomy chambers with wide eyes and dripping swords...

These were the pagan forefathers of Enochian Crescent, and you can hear that ancestry here...essential listening for those of you who are aware of black metal's ability to enchant.

UA

Erebus Magazine
http://erebuszine.blogspot.com

I've never heard much about Enochian Crescent when talking with other metal fans, other than their infamous stage show which made Emperor fear to go on. Before this album I'd expected just another one of those "kvlt az fvck" bands from the Northern Wastes with horrible production and little skill. Totally wrong. Enochian Crescent has got to be one of the most accomplished black metal bands I've ever heard. You could almost even call their stylings technical, if not for the more experimental parts of Omega Telocvovim. They are certainly a very unique band, but if someone were to ask me to compare their sound to that of another group I might say they sound a bit like Borknagar. Take away the synths, add some really evil shrieks by a fucking madman, clean vocals as insane as Arcturus, and more straight ahead black metal riffs with a touch of death metal. I realize this description is weak, but Enochian Crescent is by no means a typical black metal band.

Ok, onto the songs:

1. Oceanus on Dry Land starts off the album with an eerily quiet guitar passage and some effects that remind you of swirling mist...and then it builds up into a kickass black metal riff which is really quite complex. It's the kind of marching riff that only really angry bands can create. The song really does have an oceanic feeling to it. I especially love the breakdown beginning at 3:10. Nearly anthemic and a great fucking touch!

2. Abaiuonen sounds like some of the symphonic black metal out there, only it contains no synthesizers, like the rest of the album. That's one thing I really like about Enochian Crescent, they have a way of creating atmosphere without any synth passages. Fast drums at first, but eventually the song slows down into a slow, heavy march accompanied by some sound effects and another sort of nautical guitar riff. At this point you can really hear how well the riffs are made, raning from straight up brutal tremelo attacks to more laid back ones.

3. Transversay...heavy! This song starts out with one of the coldest, darkest riffs this side of Darkthrone. It only serves as an intro to a chaotic onslaught that's so heavy and fast the only thing you can do is headbang. This song reminds me of a more polished Impaled Nazarene on the Tol Cormpt Norz Norz Norz album. All of these riffs are played with precision and once again we have atmosphere with drums of doom and crazed clean vocals to hold it all together. The guitar tone on this song, and on most of this album, is perfect.

4. Tis the Sound of the Tempest more or less follows the same formula as the last few songs, but adds some elements that allows me to compare Enochian Crescent to Borknagar, at about 1:39 you might think this song was a B side on Quintessence. But they clearly set themselves apart.

5. This is my favorite song on the album. Ye Crystall Shears. Should you be reading this, this is the song I'd suggest you to download if you still remain skeptical of the band. Evil through and through, with a charging riff and an almost sing along chorus. Throw the horns up, because this is how black metal was meant to be. No synths, no female vocals, no acoustic parts...just black fucking metal! It may be one of the more simpler songs on the album, but it's way too brutal to be ignored.

8. Track eight, De Siatris od Teloch, also needs to be acknowledged. I got my face fucking ripped off by this song. Nobody, and I mean nobody, sounds this vicious and evil. I wish this album had a few more songs like this. Take old Emperor, improve the production, and add a hell of alot more attitude. Now you know why they were afraid to take the stage after these guys. I'd love to see Enochian Crescent play this live. It's all in all a moshing song. The only mellowed down parts are some slower riffs, but it's only to let you recover from the vicious beating this song bestows upon the listener.

Six songs are enough to describe. The rest of the album is just as good, this is definitely not a premature ejaculation or a monotonous repitition of songs. There's alot of heavy and traditional black metal riffs, but Enochian Crescent adds their own spice with a black metal sound I've never really heard before. This album will be in my stereo quite often. It's got it all: atmosphere, evil, good riffs, solid drumming, and even great production! I shouldn't even have to say it...but go buy this album if you're a black metal fan. Mandatory.