Tuesday, 4 December 2012

Engulfed - Through the Eternal Damnation

ENGULFED - Through the Eternal Damnation (HELLTHRASHER - CD 2012)

Here is something unique, as I can truly say that I never have had too many chances to hear bands from Turkey. Sure, I like Burial Invocation a lot, I also am familiar with Deggial, whose tape I have somewhere in my collection, I also remember Cenotaph, but that would be pretty much all what comes to my mind at the moment. So, Engulfed is one of the rare occasions to hear something from this big country. And I must say that I definitely like what I hear on “Through the Eternal Damnation”. The impression is even bigger if I say that I just didn’t expect anything extraordinary. Sure, Hellthrasher Productions is known for the quality of their releases, but not everything they touch must necessarily be golden. In this case I can say that Bart and his label managed to pick up one of the most promising underground death metal bands at the moment and if they’ll get the full length album ready it can be as killer as the Ectovoid or Abysme LPs.
“Through the Eternal Damnation” contains four tracks only and that – plus the fact the whole stuff is about 25 minutes short – is the only fault of this material. I would definitely like to hear some music from those Turkish bastards, but at least I can that this MCD is a killer appetiser before the main course, which I hope Engulfed will deliver in 2013. But OK, let’s take a closer look at what this band has to offer...
Engulfed walks the path of the old styled death metal, of the American legends such as Incantation and Goreaphobia, and from the recent bands they may remind you Dead Congregation, Grave Miasma, Anatomia, Funebrarum and other such hordes. Ha, it must sound nice, right? Yeah it does (!!!), if nice for you is something as obscure, raw, violent, punishing and smelling like rot?! What may distinguish Engulfed from most of those bands is the fact that while the whole atmosphere of their music, its specific riffing, sound, heaviness are all clearly rooted in Incantation and other such bands then all four tracks are more focused on the faster playing rather than ultra slow and massively heavy riffing. Basically every song from “Through the Eternal Damnation” has some ultra fast parts, which will crush you down and turn into a pile of blood and meat. From the other hand if you will listen to “Supreme Lord of Blasphemy” then you may realize that Engulfed do not make your life easy and contributes as many different parts into their music as it is possible; in this case the song starts with a mid paced, relatively memorable tune, then it speeds up like crazy and the finish is just a classic apocalyptic, doomy slow tune in the vein of Incantation. But it works perfectly for me. I mean Engulfed really picked up excellent riffs, glued them together into four killer tracks and most of all, the production of “Through the Eternal Damnation” is just perfect. It is powerful, it is heavy and filled with the energy, which can break the walls if you play it loud enough. And also I must say that Serkan’s vocals are awesome.
Fuck, I cannot wait to hear some more stuff from this very promising band now!
Standout track: “Supreme Lord of Blasphemy”
Final rate: 90/100

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