Ensnared – Inimicus Generis Humani

Band: Ensnared
Title: Inimicus Generis Humani
Label: Invictus Productions
Release date: 14 February 2020
Country: Sweden
Format reviewed: Digital Promo

For normal people, Valentine’s Day means flowers, chocolates, romantic dinners and perhaps coit… alright, getting a little off-topic here. But for others, being on a Friday and all, Valentine’s Day marks the release of new albums.

Ensnared took the chance to fill the need we have on a special day to deliver us their second full-length album “Inimicus Generis Humani”. The deliciously filled 41 minutes long album contains eight pieces of sweet sweet death metal I feasted on like…well, like a box full of chocolates I suppose, without the risk of going into an anaphylactic shock due to hidden peanuts.

The indulgence begins with the first track “Interlude l”. The initial longing for fuzzy guitars and spacious drumming is satisfied deeply in a slow and doomy way that is later on taken onto the next level with a belly guitar tone that gives it that old 70´s type of post-rock feel. That feeling of the first impression is, however, removed with “Spiritual Necrosis”. Old school sounding blast beat is paired well with the vocals that finally come along. Fluffy air and reverbs are present although never over the top and so the production so far is superb, to say the least. 

A little more on the heavier side comes “The Throne of Transformation”, not too heavy though, but the next step off from those white chocolate pieces in the box. The vocals are on the harsher side although with a nice melody within, and I felt satisfaction as “Interlude ll” rolled around with its clean guitars and built up before shifting to “Disciples of the Whip”. The guitar riffs are pure gold along with the barking vocals in the manners of Cronos from Venom. “Interlude lll” already built up my expectations since there had already been two before to prepare for what was to come and followed by “Katharsis Through Terror” and its heavy groove I have started to see a certain pattern in this box.

The longest track closes the whole thing and while reassembling the previous interlude tracks with a clean and eerie guitar tone, for example, the drums are barely audible which gives a soft and anticipating start. Given that this setup lasts for over four minutes, it is safe to say that “Black Hole Acolytes” focuses primarily on heaviness in an elegant doom metal way, almost as if it is in slow motion. It is a colossus of a track and quite fitting as a closure for an album such as this.

With proggy tendencies, I believe there is much here for everyone that enjoys old school death metal. Personally, it didn’t feel like anything, in particular, stood out, however, what they have done here is done beautifully.  7/10 Julia Katrin

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