My first encounter with Enshadowed (which was hardly an encounter at all) suggested they built they entire combustive formula on an accumulation of classical 90's black metal, bearing both Norse and Swedish finesse. However, months later, when I actually got to listen to their prized third entry ''Magic Chaos Psychedelia'', and when I saw their name under the Pulverized Records roster; that's when the ambiguity was unveiled. I've never listened to the the band's previous efforts, which were released some 9-10 years ago, but judging from the vociferous chaos they can conjure here, I have no doubt the Greeks have some potential. Like some of their thriving countrymen, Acherontas, Ravencult, or Thy Blackened Shade, the Greeks can easily exploit tremendous raw energy, but then again, Enshadowed has a lesser intake of pure old school black metal convulsions - that is a part of their deal here, but their priorities are homages to more woven, complex acts of modern ferocity.
It's really a mixture of thrash, death and black dispersed disproportionately along the band's hybridized form of chaos, chaos being principally the thing that they excel at. As soon as the album commences, Enshadowed whirls in an all-out razor tornado, a series of deathly, weltering semi-atmospheric impulses spewing from the cadaverous arteries of the album anchoring the foray, and the band rapidly releases carnage after carnage, with no remorse. Incredibly, the energy is more akin to a much modernized version of bestial black metal acts such as Blasphemy, Conqueror, Adversarial or black/thrash legends Destroyer 666 and Gospel Of The Horns rather than the aforementioned comparison of Norwegian and Swedish prowess. As much as there's a lot of foreboding chaos and torrential, abysmal destruction, there's a fine layer of atonal motifs as well; usually mid paced thrash progressions coupled with enigmatic chord dispersion, followed by the typical meal of the day - lengthy portions of tremolo mayhem.
The maniacal intensity and workforce of the dynamics is immensely compelling especially when razor-sharp depictions of thrash and near proto brutal death metal aesthetics are put to place, and the listener is awash with blackened gore less than halfway through the album, and surprisingly, repeated riff splurging comes with some vague benefits; the band, in truth, offers a little more than just razing, uncircumcised black/death, something which, based on some reviews I've read about the previous albums, was the only thing the Greeks had in store before. I doubt that they picked up incredible pace in order to solely bestow intricacies on their distorted anger, but I'd say they certainly have an enlarged spectrum of ideas as far as the whole modern black/death cliche goes. Firstly, Serpent's vocals are torturous even though somewhat polished like the guitars, and secondly, during the sudden outburst of riffs, the band always enriches their woven hatred with profound drudgery, and plenty of the motion depends on the navigating force of the guitars, not the drums.
In all, I can hardly say I found this to be bad. Yes, ''Magic Chaos Psychedelia'' is just a textbook example of modernized black metal in its way of collapsing megalithic burden and balusters in single ruptures, probably the closest thing you've got to modern Behemoth or Impiety, but the channeling vividness and competence shines bright-red as Enshowed do their thing. It wouldn't have killed if stronger subtleties were added, but as solid as this is, it will certainly do without them.
Highlights:
The Dual Hypostasis Of Nihil
Dethroned
Black Holes, Death Planets
Rating: 80%
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