Ensanguinate – Eldritch Anatomy
Release Date: 7th October 2022
Label: Emanzipation Productions
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Morbid Angel, Death, Possessed, Deicide, Dismember, Gruesome.
Review By: Rick Farley
Slovenia’s putrid entry in death metals grimoire of old, Ensanguinate is releasing their first full length, Eldritch Anatomy on Emanzipation productions. Formed in 2020 the band leans on days of old-style death metal in the vein of Possessed and Morbid Angel. A brutal concoction of old school death/thrash metal and sinister melodies evil enough to summon the dead, promises an assault worthy of any 80s extreme metal fanatics attention and praise.
Eldritch Anatomy is filthy, heavy, mean, and catchy as hell. The production is top-notch, finding the sweet spot between dirty buzzsaw tones and crisp percussive clarity. You can easily hear everything in all its gory, ugly detail. Mixed and mastered beautifully by guitarist/vocalist Andrej Čuk, the record maintains an aggressive grimy old school sound but has a contemporary production quality. The balance between raw, powerful, and modern is masterly crafted. It’ worthy of being noted that the album cover, done by Gorgoroth’s Khaos Diktator, is beyond brutal.
The music on Eldritch Anatomy is a pure shot of grotesque melodies and groovy as fuck hooks. Swirling thrashy riffs, heavy low end, scream soaked gutturals and frenetic violent drumming combined with excellent song crafting and a genuine love for the old school sound makes this ripper a must-hear. The authenticity in sound and the quality of songs, could easily fit in with your rotation of early death metal albums, ensuring additional vintage extreme vibes of attacking guitar riffs and gruesome fucking growls.
Right from the start, this enraged beast of a record, spits, and snorts venomous bile in the form of Hunted; a raging stompy guitar riff with thrash style drums and undeniable intensity pounds the living daylights out of the listener. The tempos shift from blistering to fast-paced headbanging chugginess, never truly relenting its tight grip of blood thirsting, hammering speed. Hellfire is unleashed in what seems to be the perfect blazing solo for this perfect opening track. Sublimation’s diabolic and frost-soaked guitar melodies from Andrej and Jaka Črešnar, slow spidery basslines from Miha Šinigoj both adds a level of minatory presence which ghastly dances its way through the heavy brooding song like a hateful spirit manipulating us, just waiting for the real threat to consume everything with its blackened shroud of darkness. Death Vernacular starts with unhinged, mayhem filled drums from Matjaź Winkler giving way to a hell of a classic headbangable groove with heavy cymbal use and double bass. The juxtaposition from chaos to hook laden beats will surely thrive in the live setting. Just get the fuck out of the way.
The revival of classic sounding death metal is still in full force and doesn’t appear to be falling off anytime soon. In a year with an infinite number of death metal bands repping the classics, only a few will still be standing when the end of the year list come out. Copious amounts of bands and albums will be long forgotten in the “old school” muck that has become tripe with release after spurious release. Ensanguinate is not one of those bands, this does not feel tributary or merely influenced by; this is real death metal from a time long gone. Before death metal became mainstream, it sounded occult, dangerous and genuine. This out for blood four piece lurks in those same shadows as some of the bands that came before them. From top to bottom this is straight up killer death metal just the way it should be. Evil guitar melodies, thrashy, turbocharged heaviness, with punishing drums, thick grooves and corpse burning style solos. But most importantly, it has great fucking songs that could conjure up demons in your living room. Let the evocation begin. 
(4.5 / 5)
