Enthral ‎"Prophecies Of The Dying" CD

Co-released with Silenced Voices Recordings (Russia).
Recorded and mixed May 1997 at Stovner Rockefabrikk, Norway.
Mastered by at Strype Audio. Track 7 was recorded at Hov Studio, Sunndalsøra, August 1996.

This album is the first full-lenght of this Norwegian Band, released by Hot Records in 1997. The release is impressive, if we think that it was recorded only in 4 days: this is not a simple Black Metal album, but it's a great mix of genres, doom, gothic, black and sometimes brutal metal. Lyrics aren't about the usual themes of the black metal bands, this band write about dreams, visions and surreality. The album contains only 7 tracks (the last one is an instrumental passage that reminds Salig Er Den Som Lir, the 1st song), but the release lenght is very long, about 63 minutes. Despite the lenght, each track is not boring, every song has a great variety of guitar riffs, performed by Gunnhild Bratset, who is able to alternate slow and fast passages.
Kjetil Hektoen's voice is not a typical Black Metal voice, it gives originality to every song, sometimes supported by the backing vocals of Martin Rafoss, the bassist.
But Enthral doesn't stop here: Kjetil is a great drummer, the percussions are never repetitive, and I love how drums supports the slowest passages of every song, adding a lot of atmosphere.
To "complete" every song Enthral uses a great soprano vocalist, Ingrid Skretting, who gives a "gothic feeling" to the title track, and a session synth player, Hektra.
This album has also a wonderful layout, both in the booklet than in the backing cover. Layout paintings are realised by Gunnhild, the guitarist.

Sample: