Apparently, I’m funnier when I’m not a fan of a band’s music. Well, if that’s true, get ready for a starkly un-funny review because, spoiler alert, I liked Enshadowed‘s “Stare Into the Abyss.” There are clear parallels between “Stare Into the Abyss” and some of Mayhem‘s material. Enshadowed are probably a bit more restrained than Mayhem, but the vocalist definitely channels his inner Attila at times. Some people hate Attila’s vocals. I call those people fucksticks.
A difference between Mayhem and Enshadowed is that Enshadowed‘s bass-player is great. There are some super cool basslines here. Mayhem‘s bass-player, on the other hand, has been riding on the coat-tails of the other members for 30+ years. Oh yeah. I went there.
Now, sometimes things do get a little too close to Mayhem (e.g., the start of “A Form of Agony”), while other things don’t work for me (e.g., the layered vocals toward the end of “Divide You Fall”). While on this topic, I didn’t enjoy the second half of the album as much as I enjoyed the first half. There are still good riffs here, but it drags as little. There aren’t as many new tricks. That said, I enjoyed the outro to “Entropy of Men” and, overall, “Stare Into the Abyss” is a cool abum.
Rating – 4 / 5
The Metal Wanderlust 