Sleeping Village Reviews
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!

ENCHANTMENT - Cold Soul Embrace (Review)

6/27/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Written by: The Voiceless Apparition

​
Welcome back, my friends! I had stated in my previous post that I would do a review of this album, so here we are. For those who haven't yet read my interview with Mark Tierney, I'll keep this short and simple. This album is twenty eight years in the making. Enchantment were an unfortunately little known name in the early '90s British metal scene, but with the passing of time, things change. My first introduction to this band was about 6 years ago when I bought an original pressing of their debut album Dance the Marble Naked on CD. I was in love with their melodic yet crushing display of death and doom metal, so this is a really special album for me. So as you can see, I was very excited to see that they unexpectedly reformed to work on this album in question. The results are what we will now be hearing with Cold Soul Embrace.

The first taste we received of the album was last year's "As Greed as the Eye Beholds," which in turn is the opening track of the album. Almost immediately, you know you are in good hands. Everything about this song is dripping with atmosphere and melancholy: the opening morose melody, the crawling drums, and the gut-wrenching vocals. "A Swanlike Duet" starts out with some beautiful clean guitars before launching into some surprisingly rockin' riffs, but even with that in mind it is still a rather heavy affair. It's catchy and all, but never loses any bite. 

I think the most noticeable thing about the album is that it is quite melodic, perhaps moreso than the debut. Songs like "Painting Amongst the Feather" and "Of Glorious Vistas Forgot" showcase this to a tee. People don't typically think of death/doom as being a catchy genre, but these songs have some infectious melodies and riffs and epic and sweeping symphonic elements, adding even more depth to already dense songs. But that's not to say that this album is devoid of brutality. Songs like "In A Cello-Felt Glare" and "The Beauty of Liars" are ripe with bone-crushing riffs, and a blitzkrieg of double-bass drums and gut-churning growls. "The Beauty of Liars" is a particular highlight to me, as it is a brutally heavy and groovy number, highlighting all of the elements that I love in death/doom. 

But the biggest surprises on the album come in the songs "The Wake of the Hollering Tide" and "One Jump of the Sun". The former serves as an "interlude" but to me it's far more than interlude. This track serves as a breather and a bridge between the two halves of the album. I typically don't like interludes on albums, but this is a very well-structured song. While "One Jump of the Sun" isn't anything new, even on this album, the thing that captivates me about the song is how strangely triumphant it is. Quite epic and grand in scope.


Twenty eight years. Think of everything that has happened in twenty eight 28 years. There's a lot to live up to after being away for so long. I personally feel that it was well-worth the wait. The biggest takeaway from the album, besides the music itself, is how surgically precise they were with capturing the feeling of mid '90s death/doom. The production is raw enough to pass for being released in 1995. The band were hyping the album up to the equivalent of "opening a time capsule," and they most definitely achieved that. 

Cold Soul Embrace is a stark, melancholy, yet thoroughly enjoyable slab of old school death/doom. I'm calling it now: contender for album of the year. I really hope that this is the start of a new era and renaissance for Enchantment, because I personally feel like they have much more to say if they continue to make new music. But yet if this is a purely special and singular release and they walk back into the shadows again, then they accomplished their goal, times 10. It goes to show that age is just a number.

Enchantment - Cold Soul Embrace was released June 24th via Transcending Records/Cosmic Key Creations. Find it onbandcamp here!

Enchantment can be found:
Bandcamp
Facebook
Instagram
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    WELCOME!

    We provide thoughtful reviews of the music that wakes us from slumber. 
    ​
    Written by a highfalutin peasantry.


    Archives

    July 2025
    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    February 2020

    Categories

    All
    666
    Acid Rock
    Adventure
    Afrobeats
    A High Quality Death Metal Album
    Album Announcement
    Album Premiere
    Album Stream
    Alternative Rock
    Alt Metal
    Alt-metal
    Ambient
    Americana
    Ampwall
    Antifascist
    AOTY
    Atmospheric
    Atmospheric Black Metal
    Atmospheric Doom
    Avant Garde
    Beats
    Beat Tape
    Blackened
    Blackened Death Metal
    Blackened Doom
    Blackened Thrash
    Black Metal
    Black 'n' Roll
    Boom-Bap
    Brooklyn Artemis
    Brutal Death Metal
    Cinematic
    Classic Albums
    Classic Rock
    Compilation Album
    Concept Album
    Cosmic Death Metal
    Cover Song
    Crossover
    Crust
    Crust Punk
    Cybergrind
    Cyber Metal
    Dark Ambient
    Dark Metal
    Darksynth
    Deathcore
    Death Doom
    Deathened Black Metal
    Deathgrind
    Death Metal
    Death Thrash
    Demo
    Demo Tape
    Desert Rock
    Dissonant Death Metal
    Djent
    Doom
    Doom Folk
    Doomgaze
    Doom Metal
    Doomviolence
    Dream Metal
    Dream Pop
    Drone
    Dungeon Synth
    Duskwave
    EDM
    Electronic
    Electronica
    Electronicore
    Emo
    EP
    Epic Metal
    Ethereal
    Europower
    Experimental
    Extreme Metal
    Faery-synth
    Family Friendly
    Fantasy
    Folk
    Folk Metal
    Fresh Meat Friday
    From The Archives
    Funeral Doom
    Fuzz
    Goregrind
    Gothic
    Goth Rock
    Grind
    Grindcore
    Groove Metal
    Gross Death Metal
    Grunge
    Guest Post
    Gym
    Hardcore
    Hard Rock
    Harsh Noise
    Haunting
    Heavy Metal
    Heavy Psych
    Heavy Rock
    Hellenic Black Metal
    Hip Hop
    Hip-Hop
    Horror
    Horrorcore
    Indie Rock
    Industrial
    Industrial Metal
    Instrumental
    Instrumental Hip Hop
    Interview
    Jazz
    Jazz Rap
    Lists 2022
    Mars Metal
    Mathcore
    Melodic Black Metal
    Melodic Death Metal
    Melodic Metal
    Meme Reviews
    Metalcore
    Metallic Hardcore
    Metallic Sludge
    Metal Reviews
    Micro Reviews
    Mini Reviews
    Modern Metal
    Music Video
    Neoclassical Metal
    Noise
    Nu Metal
    Nu-metal
    NWOBHM
    NWOTHM
    Occult
    Olde-reviews
    Old-school-death-metal
    On-the-horizon
    Orchestral
    OSDM
    Playlist
    Playlist Curation
    Pop
    Pop Rock
    Pop-rock
    Post Hardcore
    Post-hardcore
    Post Metal
    Post-metal
    Post Rock
    Post-rock
    Post-sludge
    Powerdeath
    Power Electronics
    Power Metal
    Powerviolence
    Prog
    Progressive Death Metal
    Progressive Metal
    Progressive Rock
    Progressive Thrash
    Prog Rock
    Proto-metal
    Psych
    Punk
    Rap
    Rap Reviews
    Raw Black Metal
    Release Day Roundup
    Retro Rock
    Retrospective Reviews
    Reviews
    RnB
    Rock
    Rock & Roll
    Sci Fi
    Sci-fi
    Shoegaze
    Singer-songwriter
    Ska
    Skate Punk
    Skramz
    Slam
    Sludge
    Soundcloud
    Soundtrack
    Speed Metal
    Split Releases
    Stoner
    Stoner Doom
    Stoner Metal
    Stoner Rock
    Stoner Thrash
    Swedeath
    Swedish Death Metal
    Symphonic Black Metal
    Symphonic Metal
    Synth
    Synthwave
    Techdeath
    Technical Death Metal
    Thrash Metal
    Top 10
    Track Premiere
    Track Reviews
    Traditional Doom
    Traditional Metal
    Trap
    Trippy
    Two Of A Perfect Pair
    UKHC
    Underground Rap
    USPM
    Year End Lists

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • REVIEWS & PREMIERES
  • ARCHIVES
    • OLDE REVIEWS
    • OLDE INTERVIEWS
    • OLDE FEATURES
    • OLDE PREMIERES
  • SUBMIT FOR REVIEW!