Premiere: Ensanguinate Descend Into Death-Thrashing Madness on ‘Eldritch Anatomy’
Death metal is a genre steeped as much in the past as it is in new traditions. As the old-school death metal revival continues, there are scores of bands carrying the banner in a way that honors the genre’s bloody roots. Influences come from all over the place: the neck-snapping grooves of Cannibal Corpse, the swampy stomp of Obituary and the thrash of Possessed and early Death, to name a few.
Eldritch Anatomy, the new album from budding Slovenian outfit Ensanguinate, takes its cues from the latter. Clocking in at a lean nine tracks, Eldritch Anatomy pays faithful attention to the aforementioned genre forefathers alongside hints of Morbid Angel, Celtic Frost and even Dissection in its most melodic moments. At their best moments, on songs like “Ghoul Presence,” Ensanguinate throw themselves fully into a thrashy gallop, barking out sharp vocals over a twin-guitar attack.
The songs on Eldritch Anatomy are generally ambitious in their scope. Rather than writing quick in-and-out tracks that do little more than get the blood pumping, Ensanguinate mix things up with other influences, like the melodic black metal on first track “Hunted” or the mid-period Death-isms on “Death Vernacular.”
The thing that sets Eldritch Anatomy apart is that Ensanguinate seem to have a solid idea of what old-school death metal songwriting, not just riffcraft, sounds like. The band confirmed that sentiment to MetalSucks:
“Eldritch Anatomy is the culmination of a lifetime of dedication to black and death metal of the bleakest, darkest variety. As the title implies, it is an analysis of the eldritch, the anatomy of death and its onset, viewed by each song through a different lens ranging from philosophy to literature, accompanied by a note of occult pessimism running throughout the whole album. Death metal is an ecstatic celebration of the ravenous end, so to fit the urgency of the music, it is time to unleash ‘Eldritch Anatomy’ on the world one month in advance of its release on CD and vinyl. Dive in, rejoice, and listen to the dead sing their psalms!”
Physical media won’t hit the streets until October, but we’ve got an exclusive stream of Eldritch Anatomy right here. Dig in.
