Band:	Wrathprayer
Album:	Enkoimeterion
Style:	Blackened death metal
Release date:	October 11, 2024
A review by:	X-Ray Rod

01. Lord Of Agony
02. Seed Of Corruption
03. Mercy Begets Savagery
04. Seelenabgründe
05. Harpagisometha
06. Man's Obsolescence
07. Caliginous Ecstasy

The passage of time doesn't mean much to Wrathprayer. Enkoimeterion marks the Chilean duo's return after 12 years and their infernal style of black/death metal remains impeccable.

During the latter half of the 2000s and throughout the 2010s, there was a wave of disturbing black/death metal bands that dealt with the occult. Many of these esoteric bands insisted on a cavernous sound which resulted in claustrophobic pieces of hellish art. Some favorites include Necros Christos, Teitanblood, Antediluvian, Impetuous Ritual, and Mitochondrion. There is a mysterious, unnerving, and uncanny aura that emanates from these bands. Music that doesn’t seem to be coming from our world.

In my never-ending musical journey, I was trying to find similar acts from my home-country, Chile. While I was delighted to discover bands like Force Of Darkness and Unaussprechlichen Kulten, the most enigmatic was Wrathprayer. Their 2012 debut album, The Sun Of Moloch, left a mark on me. A brutal record with a warm production that made the riffs sound as if they were made out of hellfire. Formless walls of riffs in the midst of imposing, frenetic drumming. It felt like the thinking man’s war metal. A savage album with an atmospheric, serious tone that left me at the edge of my seat. As the songs from their next release, The Wrath Of Darkness split, were recorded in 2014 and released in 2017, I feared the band had come to an end. But a decade of deep slumber and solitude is perhaps what was needed for the beast to resurrect with full force.

It is pleasing that Wrathprayer have altered just enough of their sound to make Enkoimeterion a worthy follow-up to the band’s debut while still having a voice of its own. The warm production is still there, but it also feels much muddier than expected, which would please fans of bands like Portal. But, the disorienting way the guitar leads are buried in the mix, or how some of the vocals seem to echo into infinity, is more akin to the extravagant Antediluvian.

Despite the more confrontational approach compared to its predecessor, there are intriguing sounds to be found in Enkoimeterion. The album starts menacingly with a sample from Chilean classical composer Próspero Bisquertt Prado, whose chilling music accompanies Wrathprayer once more at the end of the first proper track, only to be followed by the disturbing sound of screeching rats. Wrathprayer never stops performing in a rather bestial, even brutish, manner. The drums, for example, hit much harder than before and they wrap themselves around the riffs with unpredictable fillers that remind me of old Immolation; while the vocals lean more towards monstrous growls instead of the raspy howls from the debut.

The Chilean duo has taken their time making sure their sophomore record not only reflects the quality of its predecessor but also attempts to surpass it. The amount of work put into this album is easily noticed despite Enkoimeterion sounding like a maddening hellhole. Seekers of extreme rituals would do well in paying attention and celebrating the return of Wrathprayer.