Filthy Music Review - 'Energumen: Void Spiritualism 7" EP'

Energumen (Switzerland) - Void Spiritualism 7" EP (2014)

Blood Harvest

Review by Trevor Proctor

Swedish label Blood Harvest is set to bring us a release from yet another very promising death metal band, Energumen, in September 2014. Hailing from Geneva, Switzerland, Energumen consists of M.RMSR on drums and J.FHRR who plays guitar and bass along with vocals. Since formation in 2010 Energumen has been playing blackened death metal in a very authentic and brutal manner. In April the band independently released the debut EP “Void Spiritualism” on cassette, though it wasn’t long until Blood Harvest signed them in order to officially release Void Spiritualism as 7” EP.

Spanning just over thirteen minutes the EP features three tracks which are enough to whet our appetites and give us an indication of what we can expect from Energumen in the future. 

There’s no need to give you a track by track account of this EP as it delivers exactly what it intended to – authentic, impassioned, hard as nails death metal. The production on the EP is quite murky and gives their music a very primitive and raw feel; the band is clearly influenced by early death metal, an influence which shows in their chaotic yet focused music. Self-abortion Ritual is the first track which is four minutes of primal, savage death that’s filled with energy from the off as Energumen set the pace. 

One of the first things you notice is the vocals which are quite guttural and coarse yet perfectly suited to the music, again adding to the overall feel of the music. The drumming is quite frenetic, providing the driving power behind each track, there’s a nice amount of guitar solos and the bass isn’t lost in the mix; featuring nicely in the overall sound. The bar’s raised quite high from the start but Energumen maintain this very high standard across the EP’s thirteen minutes. 

This is metal that doesn’t fuck about, if you’re looking something well-polished and crisp sounding you’ve came knocking on the wrong door my friend – this is music that’ll tear you limb from limb and piss over the pieces. Raw, uncompromising, brutal and dirty as fuck this is a strong release that will certainly bring Energumen the audience they deserve. A sterling debut from a very promising band, I hope it’s not long before we hear more from them – an album’s worth of this standard of music would be something else… 

8/10

Tracklist:

1- Self Abortion Ritual

2 - Invisible Spears of Abomination

3 - Ekliptik Manisfestation of Dominance

Energumen's Void Spiritualism 7” EP is released by Blood Harvest on September 22nd 2014.