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Enterré Vivant - 四元素 (Shigenso)



7 | 13 votes |
Release date: 1 September 2023
Style: Atmospheric black metal

Owners:

2 want it


01. 風 (Le Vent)
02. 火 (Le Feu)
03. 水 (L'eau)
04. 土 (La Terre)

Staff review by
F3ynman
Rating:
N/A
A melancholic, atmospheric journey told in four acts and two languages.

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published 10.09.2023 | Comments (6)

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Comments

Comments: 1   Visited by: 19 users
13.10.2023 - 19:38
Rating: 7
ScreamingSteelUS
Editor-in-Chief
Admin
The first song, in its extreme moments, reminds me of the last couple of Sigh albums. The feeling of the softer passages is quite different, although the very existence of that kind of contrast is also similar to Sigh. I'm not so much a fan of the continued growling over the soft atmospheres; it just sounds like a cat choking into the mic while somebody tries to play piano. Likewise, in the second track, that strange warbling sound - it's like somebody's trying to yoik with their cheeks full. Then the third track has that weird crying bit, which is not something that I disliked about Vengeful Spectre, but here it's more off-putting. And then the last track has those whispery croaks again and a reprise of the vocalized jawharp impression. That's just not really for me.

The second half of the album is better than the first in vocal terms, but some of the spoken parts throughout the album don't really gel with me; I don't know, maybe it's something about the mix there or maybe the reverb that I don't like.

The music and atmospheres are great, but the vocals have some issues. Sometimes it's just being placed in the wrong context, sometimes it's just being placed in any context. This could be a much stronger album if the vocals were more consistently matched to the tone and style. In fact, while the conventional harsh vocals are good, I think I'd be happiest with an instrumental version. It's just a matter of some elements feeling mismatched, I guess.
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"Earth is small and I hate it" - Lum Invader

I'm the Agent of Steel.
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