ALBUM REVIEW: Moth’s Illusion – Enisum
Italian master craftsmen ENISUM are back with a relentless vengeance. Announcing their fourth album since making the transition from a one-man line-up to a fully-fledged band, they have once again used their platform to weave intricate tales, framed within their now precise and well-defined interpretation of atmospheric black metal. Although the element of novelty has long since passed with ENISUM’s sound, Moth’s Illusion once again stands to prove why they are such an integral part of Italy’s music scene.
Moth’s Illusion kicks off with violin driven intro track, Cotard. Far from hostile, it allows the record to draw immediately on its laurels. While simple, its elegance sets the stage perfectly before familiar, distraught vocals soar into the fray during opening track Anesthetized Emotions. Sounding like a harsh wind ripping through forest pine tops, it is storm like, yet eerily beautiful. Serenity resumes not too long afterwards however, with the track taking a step back towards a calmer, more harmonious sound. This is a firm reminder of the way ENISUM go about their business. They are ever selective of the tools they choose to craft their soundscape, all the while implementing a wide range of sonic nuances to really dig deep into our emotions.
This flexibility continues into Where Souls Dissolve. Sometimes bleak, sometimes breathy, ENISUM start slow here. Acoustic guitar takes the lead before more looming instrumentals join the fracas. It is impossible to ignore the quality of the drums, which provide a thumping backdrop to exceedingly exquisite guitar work, consistently setting the pace and knotting together all of the distinct elements of this chef-d’oeuvre. Next up is Afframont, a labyrinthine track which perhaps stays truer to black metal roots than other sections of the album. Fast riffs combine neatly with crushing drums, formulating a masterclass of head bending sorcery that contorts every which way before reaching its finale.
Title track Moth’s Illusion is the first to incorporate clean vocals, which allows them to enunciate some of the finer points the album sets out to portray. As guitarist and singer Lys puts it, “Like moths lured by the moon fly to her light, man is fascinated by light, by what lies beyond death, and always tried to investigate such mystery. But in order to understand what happens after death man needs to die, that’s the only way we can discover whether that light is just an illusion. This is Moth’s Illusion. The metaphor of a moth following the moonlight which, along its path, falls victim to artificial, fake lights.” ENISUM’s ability to convey a story is remarkable, and is a common theme throughout the whole album. Including Ballad Of Musinè, a song dedicated the peak west of Turin from which the band took their name. Sounding deeply beautiful interwoven between the intermittent stabs of raw, emotive black metal starkness, it stands out just as the mountain does.
Coldness continues in exactly the same way. The shrewd build up work feels vaguely nostalgic, daring to channel a sound almost reminiscent of a rock band, all the while applying a canopy of blackened intensity over the top. From here, Petrichor slows things down a little. Clean vocals return, and the whole track feels like a strikingly narrated sob story as poignant moment after poignant moment tugs at every fibre of the consciousness. For sure an album highlight, its outro leads perfectly into the acoustic opening of A Forests Refuge, where the velocity picks back up and encompasses us in a auditory cloud of dust. ENISUM keep this tempo alive through Lost Again Without Your Pain, before falling into the closing track Burned Valley. Concluding the album as a seven-and-a-half minute long magnum opus, this piece tells the story of the recent Val Di Susa forest fires, a tragedy caused by unknown pyromaniacs.
A fitting end to a detail driven album, this haunting account speaks vividly and openly, perfectly abridging ENISUM’s raison d’être. In true Italian style, they place sophistication and class before all else, and in Moth’s Illusion they have rendered an album flowing with molten intensity, that will continue to drive their legacy forwards.
Rating: 8/10
Moth’s Illusion is set for release March 15th via Avantgarde Music.
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