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Artist: ENSOPH
Album: Project X-Katon
Year: 2006
Most bands are searching their whole carreer to find an
own style. Most bands fail to reach that goal, even
after twenty years. A band that has managed to find an
own style already for the beginning can be called rather
unique. Italian band Ensoph is one of the members of
that select company. In other reviews I already showed
my love for these cool guys (they are not acting like
big rockstars, another rather unique thing about this
band), and so it will not sound like a surprise that the
news about this new release was followed by a smile on
my face. Two years after ‘Opus Dementiae - Per Speculum
Et In Aenigmate’ Ensoph presents to us: ‘Project X-Katon’.
With ‘Condemned (In the Penal Colony)’ -first track is
an intro- this band remembers me already to the fact
that I am a big fan of their vocalist. The divercity of
screams and dark, clean vocals are sailing on the music
and they even did some experiments with female vocals as
well. The caracteristic flute known because of their
preverious works appears prominently, and the mix of
powerful drums and cold synths make this song into an
easy listening one, but also pretty dark. On ‘Kirillow's
Bullet (Alelkjej Nilyc: A =Russioan Trilogy PR. 1)’,
this band etalages another speciality of themselves: the
creative mix of metal and electro in a dark package. The
guitar sound is very heavy most parts, and the
electronic samples give this song even a little spastic
sounding. Very catchy chorus again! ‘D-Generation’ is a
song that brings you back a few years ago. This track
could fit perfectly on their ‘Bleeding Womb Of Anake’
album, which means a black gothic metal track with
industrial influences. Maybe not the most original song,
but it is always nice to hear that bands do not forget
their own roots. ‘Icons in the Dust’ shows yet another
quality of Ensoph, which can be called in one word
‘avantgardism’. Complexity, unlogical passages and
experimental musical work are following eachother, mixed
with the wellknown Ensoph sound. ‘Un Petalo di Pieta'’
is a different song, sounding like a long intermezzo.
Definitely not appropriate for psychiatrical patients!
‘Getsemani’ starts really powerful, but floods over into
a very easy listening song. Maybe the most easy
listening song, perfect for a single and/or a videoclip.
For the first time on an Ensoph track (if I remember
correctly), we can hear an EBM sounding intro on ‘The
Source Becomes Desert’. What follows is a song that has
melodic black metal music but gothic vocals. This ends
into a brilliant mix of both styles, specially with the
industrial parts. ‘Holy Bleeds (Rodian Rományc: A
Russian Trilogy Pt. 2)’ is part two of the third track
of this album, which is really hearable musically. It is
following the same creative path, and the industrial
parts sounds like heaven to my ears. Don’t be surprised
if you hear some very brutal drums here and there!
‘Pain, Pride & Regret’ starts with some spastic
industrial, followed by a perfect industrialized metal
song! My favourite song of the record, I will not tell
more about this because I think that you should discover
this one yourself! Time for part three now of the
Russian trilogy with ‘Leaving No Trace Behnd (Ivan
Karamazov: A Russian Trilogy Pt. 3)’. Imagine yourself
sitting on the electric chair. Your life is passing by
in front of your eyes, but you havent got any background
music. Well, if you need some, this song is perfect!
Cold parts created by the flute, atmospheric parts and
depressive vocals that make an end of your life. The
promo ends with an outro and three radio edits of songs
that are hearable on this record. After some research, I
have seen some reviewers who compared Ensoph with
Ram-Zet. In my opinion, this is pushing Ensoph too much
down. Of course, there are some Ram-Zet influences, but
they are definitely not a clone of them. I could
recommend it to fans of Ram-Zet anyway (as well for fans
of bands like Moonspell, Cradle of Filth and
Deathstars), if you are open for a new band with an own,
creative sound. After the smashing ‘Opus Dementiae - Per
Speculum Et In Aenigmate’ album, Ensoph has proven that
they have taken another step forward. Go and buy this
record soon, because if you are quick there is a bonus
limited 3” mini CD included for free! Curious about
their live show? Go see them on WGT 2006, and hopefully
on some dates in Holland as well!
Vote: 98 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. In the Name of
Freedom
02. Condemned (In the
Penal Colony)
03. Kirillow's Bullet
(Aleksjej Nilyc: A
Russian Trilogy Pt. 1)
04. D-Generation
05. Icons in the Dust
06. Un Petalo Di Pieta'
07. Getsemani
08. The Source Becoms
Desert
09. Holy Bleeds (Rodian
Romanyc: A Russian
Trilogy Pt.2)
10. Pain, Pride and
Regret
11. Leaving No Trace
Behind (Ivan Karamazov:
A Russian Trilogy Pt. 3)
12. In the Name of
Freedom (Reprise) |
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