ALBUM REVIEW: Enblood – Cast To Exile

Here I review Portuguese Death Metallers Enblood’s new full length!

1. Pantheon Of Solitude opens with lovely piano playing and creates a haunting atmosphere. Ending with some epic guitar riffs the bar is set.
2. Cast to Exile blasts into technical mayhem with stunning songwriting and clearly great musical ability on behalf of the entire band. The riffs are really intense and frantic, the drums blast along perfectly and the vocals sound amazing.
3. Earth Raised Creation has a slower intro but is clearly building into something. The double kick under the slower guitar chords sounds gorgeous and the production is nailed. The faster riffs come in creating brutality and technicality in equal measure. A definite piece of mosh pit fuel. The excellent tremolo picked riffs remind me of bands like Kalmah while other parts of the song are more akin to Revocation or Beyond Creation. Absolutely great song.
4. Oblivious Hate opens with some really great bass playing and drums with more the guitars creeping in and the technical assault continuing. This song blasts through more and more layers of mayhem with just so much amazing songwriting and a really nice almost blackened death atmosphere in parts that reminds me of Belphegor.
5. Strayed Path in Dementia once again opens with bass, the bassist clearly a very good one, and the addition of drums, guitar and vocals completing the band with more melodic and genuinely gorgeous structures. The intricate nature of this type music can be off putting in some cases but this band make it very digestible and palatable. The combination makes it great for your veteran tech-death fan or a perfect album to a newcomer of the genre. The lead solo work towards the end shows the very clear advanced level of their guitarist and really lets him shine but in a way that is not obnoxious.
6. Leviathan opens straight away with some killer technical thrash riffs and tons of epic guitar work over storming drums. This song has a less heavy feel to it than others and offers a slight change in sound which is interesting. The band clearly do not want their sound to stagnate and it shows.
7. Abyssal Consolation of Souls completely slows things down with standalone acoustic guitar, which is played beautifully. The electric comes in but in a really atmospheric and clear manner. The hectic technical riffs once again begin and we are taken aback by more amazing songwriting and instrumentation topped with absolutely killer vocals.
8. Awaken from the Depths has an unforgiving approach and blasts straight into the brutality. The riffs feel more aggressive and simplistic and it offers a complete contrast to the ultra-technical first half. I really like this song and how it offers a very different approach to the others, while still clearly remaining technical of course.
9. Black Morning has the coolest opening riff so far, it has a cascading and atmospheric feel but is heavy as hell. The lead guitars are amazing and the bass so clear that the mix sounds really wide. This song has such an epic feel to it, which without the use of synths is a really impressive achievement.
10. Under Werewolves’ Skies goes with a more Thrash Metal approach as with “Leviathan” and it really does keep the album sounding fresh and giving us a sense of anticipation. The speed does not become annoying or faltering, it simply blasts through chasms of amazing song structures and highly impressive musicianship.
11. Procession ends the album with slower almost Dark Funeral sounding riffs to begin. The song has a more laid back feel but with tons of heavy and aggressive parts all the same. It works amazingly as a closing piece. The albums essentially ends on some killer drumming and a lovely guitar solo. Great stuff!

Here we have an album of amazing Technical Death Metal, with tons of diversity in the songwriting and a unique original approach. While not being a genre in Metal I am as familiar with as others, I have to say this release really impressed me. -7.5/10