Today we revisit the Slovenian band Ensanguinate, whose 2020 debut demo Entranced By Decay we praised here as an offering of “absolutely delicious red meat for a death/thrashing metal fan”. What they’ve got for us now is a debut album named Eldritch Anatomy, to be released later this year by Emanzipation Productions, and what we’ve got for you is a first taste of what it brings to the table.
That first taste is a song from the album named “Lowermost Baptisms“, which will be officially released as a single this coming Friday, May 6th.
photo by Simon Pelko
The band’s frontman Andrej Čuk tells us this about the song:
“‘Lowermost Baptisms’ was heavily inspired by Slovenian literature and its bleak, often morbid outlook on life throughout history. The lyrics describe a religious pilgrimage devolving into Bacchanalia; the combination of Christian imagery with sin and transgression is a powerful one and was an immediate fit for the unhinged, violent nature of the song. The Devil is present in all of us; we are all the Adversary both to ourselves and to those around us, and ‘Lowermost Baptisms’ is our homage to this very darkness, a pact with the Devil Within, joined in a communion of blood”.
True to that description, “Lowermost Baptisms” is indeed a death/thrashing Bacchanalia that delivers a powerhouse jolt to the listeners’ nerves and muscle fibers, but it turns out to be a multi-faceted track as well — it delivers not just blazing hellfire, but also dark and sinister moods.
Ensanguinate give the song an ominous and imperious start with brazen menacing chords, athletic drum fills, and an eerily dismal guitar solo — and then kick the song into rampaging gear. The drums hammer in a fury, the riffing swarms like burning demons, and the vocals come for your throat, teeth bared and howling. The turbocharged mayhem is electrifying, but the band also pick their moments to make the music slug and scream, and they ease off the throttle to drench the senses with sounds of oppression and misery.
Near the end, the music becomes a super-nova of chaos, with the drums going full-bore, the guitars mauling in a fury, the vocals even more bestially unhinged, and a guitar solo writhing, swirling, swooping, and diving in a display of fret-melting magnificence. It’s the kind of finale that will predictably cause people to lose their minds in the mosh pit.
The music of Ensanguinate comes recommended for fans of Possessed, Morbid Angel, and Grotesque. The links below will give you a chance to pre-save and pre-add this new single, and to keep abreast of further announcements about the forthcoming Ensanguinate album on Emazipation Productions.
PRE-SAVE/PRE-ADD THE SINGLE:
https://orcd.co/ensan-lower
FOLLOW EMANZIPATION PRODUCTIONS:
https://www.facebook.com/EMZproductions
FOLLOW ENSANGUINATE:
https://www.facebook.com/ensanguinate
https://www.instagram.com/ensanguinate
https://ensanguinate.bandcamp.com