Enthrope
Silenced Earth

May 2008
Released: 2008, Self-released
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Luxi Lahtinen

There seems to be a lot of fuss going on around this Finnish name Enthrope who is said to play a sort of combination of death and doom metal. So let´s find out how much all this fuss about them holds water...



Well, after having spent quite a few intense listening sessions with the band´s latest 3-song effort, I need to admit, all this fuss and ´big words´ aren´t like a faint, vanishing fart in the desert of Sahara. Enthrope´s dreamy and atmospheric death metal - with hints from doom metal here and there, sounds thoroughly well-executed and very thought-out - not to mention how easy it is to like them due to all those great song writing skills they carry in this surprisingly good group. All the 3 songs on SILENCED EARTH prove it more than well enough that there´s lots of potential in this band. Miika is truly convincing with death grunts along with the band´s tightly and effortlessly rollin´ playing, the songs are full of great harmonies and atmosphere, keyboard parts are used wisely and with sophistication (merely to create the right atmosphere behind the songs) and a great production all together, create a pretty amazing package. Especially the 2nd song, titled "Cloud Six", could be considered quite a masterpiece from them that should get people´s attention easily. However, I didn´t feel very comfortable with those clean, male vocal parts in "End It All" at all - and in fact, they should have re-considered at least twice whether they are that properly executed the way they could support the song´s purpose in question to make it stand out in the best possible way. Oh well, or maybe it´s just me who´s complaining for minor, unnecessarily details that don´t diminish the excellence of this 3-track effort by any means.



For the fans of atmospheric death/doom metal (akin to such bands as Insomnium, Swallow the Sun and a few others, SILENCED EARTH is absolutely a must purchase. Also, this band deserves a record deal already, no doubt.