Band:	Encenathrakh
Album:	Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake
Style:	Brutal death metal, Technical death metal
Release date:	October 02, 2020
A review by:	RaduP

01. Kethkeaakeaxin Raithraatetten
02. Ggorngth Hrath
03. Akeicthakc Attkethence
04. Vvethkeal Hra Icthketh
05. Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake
06. Akceate Icthkethgrath
07. Interlude: Infinity Cosmic Indifference
08. Gethevvakeceate Hrageth
09. Cevealakcthraa Erthhra
10. Eateicthrai Kethakea
11. Erthhra Hrath

It should be a criminal offence to make brutal death metal albums longer than 30 minutes.

Ok, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You may remember from my last death metal review that I said "I guess I need a break from death metal from a while. Call me when Charnel Altar release their debut. Until then I renounce reviewing death metal (or at least this year)." You'll notice I am reviewing death metal right now. Well something happened. I saw a bunch of technical brutal death metal albums appearing in the top metal charts on Rate Your Music, and I though I might give some of them a shot. I am generally not a fan of the genre, and you usually need something fantastic to change my mind. But that day something clicked. From Putrescent Seepage to Pharmacist and from Edenic Past to Encenathrakh, I was won over for that one day.

Probably the one that blew me away the most, and the one that I decided to break my "death metal reviewing moratorium" for, one that I didn't even break for Undergang and Of Feather And Bone (please somebody else review them so I don't feel guilty), is the latest Encenathrakh. Sure, I usually review OSDM or atmospheric death stuff, so I can use the excuse that I'm only refraining from those and not avantgarde brutal technical death metal. And I do. But it's also because Colin Marston is in this band. And most of the technical death stuff that I do love was either made by/with him (reunion era Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Krallice or Behold The Arctopus) or produced by him (the Afterbirth and Pyrrhon albums that I reviewed, plus everything from Imperial Triumphant to Defeated Sanity). So namedropping galore. In Encenathrakh he is joined by members of Behold The Arctopus, Krallice, and Edenic Past, which, if you remember correctly, Colin is also part of.

Ok, namedropping aside. If you know anything about all those bands I just named, you know that Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake is bonkers. It's crazy. It's wacky. It's nuts. It's of unsound mind. It's bats in the belfry. All that (free) jazz. And also some of the best players you'll find and some of the best sound quality. You know, it's technically death metal, but it's the free jazz of death metal, or the zeuhl of death metal if you will, maybe even the harsh noise wall of death metal, with the technical aspects far superseding the need for coherent song structures or any contrasts besides some ambient interludes. And when I first listened to it, I was absolutely blows away. I asked myself why would you even make your death metal technical if you didn't go all the way like these guys do. But also, since I was listening to this album in the background and doing some work in the meantime, I found myself surprised that it is still going. I had to make sure that I didn't accidentally replay it. To my surprise, I was barely more than halfway through, and I was already looking forward to listening to something else.

Turns out, when you're pushing the best aspects of your music to 11, you still gotta keep moderation in mind. Encenathrakh's first and self-titled album understood that, hence why that one is 33 minutes, and this one is 42. Generally you wouldn't think of a 42 minutes album as a long one, but if there's anything that can make an album feel long is if a lot is going on at the same time, but everything that is going on doesn't really vary. I also feel like criticizing it for what it was obviously constructed for is kinda missing the point. This is how to be unrelenting without being noisy. It's very specific music. I just wish it got somewhere, whether through some musical variety, or by ending the album sooner. You don't have to lose your eclectic technical credibility to make your album more interesting in the long run.