• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

All right, all right. For those who gripe that I review too many Power and True Metal CDs: Here. This was the second CD from Belgian Black Metallers Enthroned, and one of the first Black Metal albums I actually liked. (I can't say 'CD' because I had it on cassette until this week.) Now inevitably I will hear from someone who will insist that Enthroned are gay and not "tr00" Black Metal, so fuck off in advance.

You gotta love this CD. Everything from the cover to the lyrics to the playing is evil, cheesy, kind of sloppy, and very cool. Enthroned are not the most original or the tightest BM band, but they go after their music with undisguised zeal and unapologetic enthusiasm. There's really nothing on this CD you haven't heard already. You've got your shrieking vocals, your ultra-fast tremolo riffing, and a lot of blastbeats. Enthroned don't even always write the greatest riffs, they just compensate by putting an assload of them in every song. They keep things interesting by putting a lot of riffs and time changes in to keep the songs from becoming monotonous. It's hard to pin down, because there isn't one thing you can point to about this band and say 'this is what makes them cool' – they just are.

The booklet has cool if rather primitive artwork, and the usual type of band photos showing off how evil and corpse-painted they are. The lyrics are actually pretty good despite some language barrier issues. "When Horny Flames Begin To Rise"? I'm sure that isn't what they meant that to sound like.

This album is just fun, fast and furious Black Metal with nothing new to offer on the one hand, but nothing to distract from the cheesy coolness on the other. And I advise anyone who thinks Enthroned aren't "tr00" enough to check the liner notes and see that Venom's Cronos provided backing vocals on tracks 1&10 – "tr00" enough for you now? Enthroned are cool, and anyone who says otherwise should suck the Devil's greasy cock in Hell.