Enochian Crescent
NEF.VI.LIM (EP)

June 2010
Released: 2010, Woodcut Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

Filth can come in different forms, and this time it´s been brought to us in the form of Finnish blacksters Enochian Crescent´s latest 6-track EP, titled NEF.VI.LIM. These sinister Finnish icon crashers released their excellent 3rd studio full-length album, BLACK CHURCH, in 2006, so it´s good to notice that they are still around, and keeping their black flags high for their antichristian values.



The material on NEF.VI.LIM, basically continues Enochian Crescent´s musical theme to churn out some progressive and avantgard-ish black metal, in which they have always been very good at. This time, however, they have decided to stick mostly to their native language Finnish - and 4 out of 6 songs on this EP, have been sung in Finnish.



I don´t know what has happened to them within these past 4 years, but somehow I get the feeling that the band´s Finnish-sung new material does not quite reach the same standards both quality and catchiness-wise compared to those high quality standards that they set for themselves on their best album to date, BLACK CHURCH, some 4 years ago. To be absolutely honest with all of you, the first 4 songs on this EP, sound kinda sloppy and lifeless even - and only the last 2 songs (“Golgotha” and “Omega Nefilim” that are) – both sung in English, are actually the ones that have this needed tendency to impale its listeners on a huge upside-down cross, supporting somewhat fully Enochian Crescent´s twists and turns in the grim and cold world of avantgardism and progressiveness. Therefore in my opinion, they should have stuck to their old, lethal weapons that provided them a winning concept on BLACK CHURCH, rather than trying to conquer some of those fields under their worn-out leather boots that seem to have led them away from their original yet so successful warpath they have had since they put this infamous group together back in 1995.



I don´t know… I expected so much more of these so-called ´spine-chilling and balls-trembling moments´ from the new Enochian Crescent´s hymns of graveyard and darkness but unfortunately got far less than I was originally hoping to get eventually. Nevertheless, somehow I am glad they saved both “Golgotha” and “Omega Nefilim” for the last 2 tracks on this 6-track effort, leaving me with some good spirit and hopes that Enochian Crescent´s next full-length album might even follow those aforementioned songs music-wise. That of course remains to be seen though.