Storm Of Swords
Independent Release
Formed a mere few years ago, Dallas/Denton (Texas, U.S.) based outfit Enormicon don’t have a lot of history behind them, nor a lot of recorded material to their name, with ‘Storm Of Swords’ their first offering to the music buying public.
Although unwilling to clearly define any one particular genre they’re comfortable enough to be associated with (Especially on their bio, which reads more like a fantasy novel), it doesn’t take a whole lot of thinking to know exactly where the band slot into the grand scheme of things when the opening track of their debut E.P. ‘Slaghammer’ comes blasting out of the speakers. In a nutshell, the trio (Comprising of vocalist/guitarist Clayton ‘The Abomination’ Davis, bassist Joe ‘Humongor’ Rosenthal and drummer Dave ‘Merciless Overlord Of Rhythm’ Slaughter) sound like a hybrid mix of latter day High On Fire, Clutch and Mastodon, which means that the sound is a heavy concoction of stoner/doom metal and psychedelic stoner rock. Although far from anything new or original (The title and the chorus itself reminds me a bit of High On Fire’s ‘Frost Hammer’ from 2010’s ‘Snakes For The Divine’), ‘Slaghammer’ is a thoroughly enjoyable track of heavy proportions, and a great start to the band’s E.P.
Unlike the bludgeoning direction of the opener, the follow-up track ‘Pray For Death’ sees the band further broadening the atmospheric and dynamics within the musical soundscape to give the song a touch of the epic, while the lengthy centrepiece of the album ‘The Gargantuan’ showcases a bit more technical finesse within the band in terms of constant time changes and precision riffing (Without making their sound too clean or clinical) in amongst the strong grooving influence that is ever-present within the band’s overall song structures.
The fast paced ‘Dark Forces’ and the mid-paced ‘Fury Shall Know The Warmth Of Your Blood’ are welcome changes of pace and style after the slow and brooding vibe of the former, and serves to give the E.P. a much needed shake up in diversity, while the closer ‘Brotherhood Of The Plague’ is a definite stand out with Davis putting in a vocal performance that appears to be a little more thought out and different sounding than anything else on offer throughout the E.P.
As a debut, ‘Storm Of Swords’ is definitely a great introduction to the masses of what Enormicon have to offer. And while the music is often a little too reminiscent of the band’s collective influences, it does at least show some real promise of things to come for the band if they continue to make some more music in the future.
For more information on Enormicon, check out - http://www.enormiconmetal.com/
© Justin Donnelly
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