Band:	Beherit
Album:	Engram
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	April 09, 2009
Guest review by:	!J.O.O.E.!

01. Axiom Heroine
02. Destroyer Of Thousand Worlds
03. All In Satan
04. Pagan Moon
05. Pimeyden Henki
06. Suck My Blood
07. Demon Advance

Reviewing music is a tricky past-time; one has to carefully balance a mixture of historical significance both nostalgically and factually along with comparison of a band's existing discography to its contemporaries and also its own work all the while fending off any overt personal feelings toward the subject matter. Beherit's Engram presents itself as a particularly troublesome entity when considering these facts. In the case of the band's history and influence the overriding reference will always be Drawing Down the Moon, which needless to say is held in high regard by most listeners of the genre (no more so than myself) as a landmark album that experimented with distorted, ritualistic ambient and mid-paced blackened metal. In short: it was highly original for its time. Naturally this brings us onto Engram:

To put it candidly, Engram is an example of fuzz over flavour. To say it lacks substance would be an egregious understatement, so much so that a few minutes of perusing the album will reveal everything on offer. But then what's on offer could be considered great if your bag is recycled thrash-riffs taken to an illogically simplistic extreme and encompassed in an overbearing production; an affectation surely employed to plaster over the lack of depth and effort on offer. Of course it wouldn't be Beherit without an electronic subtext, an aspect so expertly presented on their wildly under-regarded ambient affair Electric Doom Synthesis. Unfortunately the mind-numbingly horrific Casio driven "horn" effect on "Axiom Heroine" is quite enough to make one vomit out any joy that "Summerlands" or "Nuclear Girl" once brought. Quite simply, Beherit have decided to abandon their identity in favour of a one dimensional, Norwegian-inspired sound, a decision that will undoubtedly have the less experienced listener flooding Last.fm shoutboxes with caps-lock enhanced adjective mastery such as "cold" "evil" and "grim." The notion of a successful modern day ritualistic black metal construct is not beyond the realm of possibility if the recent work of The Beast of the Apocalypse is anything to go by; rendering the lazy, obsolete automaton that is Engram all the more disappointing.

Forgive the cynicism but the truly frustrating aspect of this release is that it perfectly caters to a vast, ever-hungry demographic that segregates itself off to the criticism of originality, creativity and spirit beyond the dead, archaic concept which Engram personifies, a concept which fanboys/girls perpetually extol and defend with concrete vigilance. From the mind of someone who values true artistic expression and individuality I can conclude that Engram is the awful result of a band that simply couldn't be bothered.