Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Sorg > Enigma Grotesque > Reviews
Sorg - Enigma Grotesque

It has a track called The Supreme Below... - 40%

Sean16, April 13th, 2006

Needless to say I stumbled upon this band on the internet, and as it was labelled as gothic doom metal I just felt forced to give it a listen. Everyone has his own weaknesses, you know. Needless to also say that now I won’t bother getting it in its original version, as it is pretty poor.

Indeed, it is gothic doom metal, with some progressive influences. This band evokes some very distant Draconian or (recent) My Dying Bride clone, without of course the talent of both bands. The riffage, when there are riffs, may also be reminiscent of neoclassical bands, especially in the short opening track, Vobiscum, which sounds closer to progressive death metal than doom metal. In the same vein, one may also notice the occasional presence of a violin – which doesn’t add much to the music – as well as so-called progressive aberrations like punctual bass solos.

The problem with this album is that almost everything, from the songwriting to the musicianship, is flawed. The band uses two singers, a female vocalist and a growler, in conformity with the law of the genre. Unfortunately each one is more awful than the other. The chick reminds me of Miss Sylvie Grare of Headline, if you don’t know Headline you’re strongly advised NOT to check it, to sum up it’s some hideous neoclassical band from my otherwise beautiful country which ravaged my ears a couple of months ago. That means that not only her voice is rather disagreeable per se, but she has the good idea to sing off-key as soon as she reaches higher notes. At least, contrary to Miss Grare, she can occasionally sing right. Wov. Her male companion is not better in his own domain, and reminds me more of some tired and wounded lion desperately roaring from the depths of the savannah than of an actual singer. Hey, I usually enjoy growls, but I request them to be at least ARTICULATED. I’m pretty sure than on the track called A Perilous Quest he even sings in duet with genuine lions, not joking – sorry, I was actually joking. Only the guy from that extreme doom band called Monolithe may surpass him, but Monolithe is Monolithe and is of course one hundred times better and more powerful than this.

Others musicians sound decent but the first thing one may notice is they don’t seem to show overwhelming imagination. With the exception of the bassist of course and its aforementioned solos – unfortunately 90% of bass solos intrinsically suck, regardless of how good the bassist is, and those are no exception.

Concerning the songwriting things don’t get together much better. With the exception of the aforementioned Vobiscum, and the closing song ironically called The Supreme Below which sounds a tad deeper and more impressive, most of the tracks sound slow, boring and uninspired. There is even a genuine whiny gothic ballad, Reach Me, needless to say it sucks even more than Suckin’ Temptation. At least the lion doesn’t sing on this track, small consolation. The only song seeming a bit differently from sleep-inducing gothic flatness – because actually this release sounds far more gothic than doom – is the title track Enigma Grotesque which just sounds... grotesque. Some unstructured crap beginning by an almost RAPPED passage, a touch of clean vocals coming from nowhere, a bass solo, and who knows what. It lasts only 5:30 but it seems to drag on for ages. Progressive? Yes. Good? Of course no.

And eventually, as if the album what not mediocre enough, they’ve had the good idea to put an hidden track at the end. Listen, hidden tracks are an abomination per se, when you’re proud of your work you don’t “hide” it damnit! But guess what... This hidden track, a sad keyboard-driven eerie and atmospheric conclusion, radically different from the rest of the album, is nothing less than the BEST SONG of the whole album! (on a sidenote, there is a second hidden track around 8:30 which is, this time, an abortion).

Oh, and when something is labelled as gothic doom metal I at least expect it to be depressive, but this stuff is so much flawed that it fails in being depressive in any way.

Highlights: Vobiscum, The Supreme Below, and the first hidden track