Enshadowed – Magic Chaos Psychedelia

It’s been 10 years since “Intensity”, the last album of the Greek black metallers Enshadowed. Their fans, fortunately, were able to appease themselves with a live album, a compilation and five splits. But those days are over. Now it’s time Enshadowed presented us their third full-length, with the name “Magic Chaos Psychedelia”. Can black metal be psychedelic? Enshadowed will tell us.
Meticulously recorded, mixed and mastered at Devasoundz Studios by Septicflesh drummer Fotis Benardo and Enshadowed, the album consists of nine tracks that encompass the diabolic melody of Belphegor, the brutal drums of Marduk and the sharp guitar riffing of Dark Funeral. The tracks are comfortably short; the compositions are quite complex, so if they lasted longer either the listener would be lost, or it would be rather tiring. And they are mostly very fast-paced, but it does not leave out the slower moments, making the songs sound gloomier, in the likes of Dark Fortress. The almost symphonic-inspired, dark and atmospheric keys harmonize extremely well throughout the entire work. As for the rhythm section, Golgotha on the bass and Impaler on the drums form a brutal wall of sound for the hateful voice of Serpent.

“Magic Chaos Psychedelia” opens with “Stary Throne Of It”, with a devilish aura burst and crazy rhythms driven by N.E.C.R.O.’s guitar. “Is Venit Ex Abyssus” causes a similar reaction with the previous one, as it unveils itself in a relentless, rapid pace. “Black Holes, Death Planets” begins with an awesome riff and shows some excellent changes in tempo. “The Scenario” continues the unsparing attack on our ears, bringing the bass line to the front. “Surrealistic Shade of Black Color” drops the tempo remarkably at the start, but it only lasts for a bit, and it charges again. “Dethroned” is the shortest track in this album, reaching only two and a half minutes, but it seems more than enough for the theme to expand. “Inner Psy-Trip” is Impaler’s contribution to this album, as he co-written the music with N.E.C.R.O. It is again a fine moment for the bass, as well as the keyboard, which closes the song almost mystically. In “The Dual Hypostasis Of Nihil” we see the death metal side of Enshadowed, with the drums literally exploding. “Magic Chaos Psychedelia” closes with the striking title-track, a song where Enshadowed decided to experiment more. It starts at a slow, doomy-like pace, and with Serpent’s croaky voice. Around the middle, we can listen to a female voice chanting, accompanied by a droning guitar, thus completing the image of an ominous ending.

Enshadowed may not have invented anything new. But the band’s experimentation worked out well and the result is solid, balanced and sharp. And it certainly had a few psychedelic moments towards the end. “Magic Chaos Psychedelia” is a very good example of modern black metal with blurred boundaries among the other genres. And let’s not forget to mention the amazing cover of the Greek artist, Rea Pediaditaki, which only adds to the accumulation of black energy.