NEWS
Thanks to Fredrik Schjerve for this great review of the new ENE album in Metallurgi.
Here translated to English:
“ENEs debut album ‘Lang Kald Natt’ from 2021 fell just short of our renowned top 50 list. The solo musician’s second wave-inspired and meditative – albeit low-resolution and searing! – black metal bewildered with its ability to activate the “inner slide projector”, and was generally an enveloping and engaging experience. Now, the enigmatic nature guide is back with another full-length album, and with it, a record that delves even deeper into the psyche of the lonely forest wanderer. ENE’s stylistic composition on ‘Et Alter av Forakt’ is nearly the same as on the 2021 debut. This means that we’re served black metal rooted in the Norwegian second wave but expanded by modern, melodic signatures of a broader Scandinavian kind. The production has also received a significant boost, where the debut’s delicate and frayed low-resolution quality has been replaced by a more spacious and grandiose mix. This aligns well with the album’s melodic peaks, which loom taller than the proud hills of ‘Lang Kald Natt’. The opening track, ‘Alvelys,’ leads us once again into ENE’s musical wilderness; this time through shades of both Windir and medieval, Eternality-like tonality. On the early highlight, ‘Sangen var Mørket’ we’re back in familiar territory, where the song’s powerful and melancholic melodies appear as a progression of ‘Satans Sorte Spor’ the standout track from the debut. The A-side of the record concludes with an introspective and elongated march between ‘De Sorte Kolonner,’ and the rushing, melodic river towards the conclusion of ‘Som Røtter ut av Jordens Dyp’. The A-side is certainly strong, but it’s the album’s second half that presents the depth of the artist’s existential ponderings. The dramatic opening of ‘Evighetens Nådeløse Eksistens’ is a defining moment in the album’s journey and, in many ways, marks the beginning of a dark night of the soul that leaves its mark on the rest of the tracks. It all reaches its natural climax in the title track, which concludes with the protagonist seemingly coming to terms with the nihilistic promise of the inevitability of nothingness. However, this is no easy pill to swallow, and the mood is certainly heavy as ‘Stillhet’ concludes the album with a contemplative footnote. Where ‘Lang Kald Natt’ preserved the early black metal tendency to romanticize nature, ‘Et Alter av Forakt’ comes across more as a tug of war between romantic and nihilistic ideas. The wanderer from ‘Lang Kald Natt’ is still surrounded by magnificent and beautiful nature but appears distracted from their nature meditation by constant thoughts of meaninglessness and existence. This might be a misinterpretation on my part, but the perceived themes have, in any case, provided me with new layers to admire in the powerful, melancholic music that fills ‘Et Alter av Forakt’ from start to finish. ENE’s second album is undoubtedly a step forward for the young one-man band, and an experience that should leave fans of the more adventurous and Kittelsen-worshipping circles of the second wave wanting more.”
July 2023: Second album out now on black/blue marble vinyl, digipak CD and all streaming platforms!
Check out the shop for more details and official merch
December 2021, new official lyric video out now!
“Smal er Porten til Stjernene” is taken from the debut album “Lang Kald Natt”
July 2021, Interview in Blutrache Magazine issue #23, page 29
July 2021, “Lang Kald Natt” is available on cassette!
June 2021, ENE Interview in Danish Metalized Magazine
May 2021, Interview in Iron Backstage Magazine
April 2021, Interview & review (8/10) in Occult Black Metal Magazine
March 2021, “Lang Kald Natt” is announced album of the week in Metallurgi
ENE debut album out now!
Lang Kald Natt
March 2021, Eight tracks of atmospheric and sinister Black Metal, and lyrics dealing with darkness, death, and destinies of doom. “Lang Kald Natt” was recorded in the autumn of 2020 and was mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound AB.
Available on black vinyl and CD @ www.hellstain.com