Album Review: Scourge of the Enthroned by Krisiun (Century Media Records)

Brazilian death metallers, Krisiun, have released a dark and viciously heavy new album called Scourge of the Enthroned. Scourge of the Enthroned was released on the 7th of September via Century Media Records.

Krisiun are one of the most consistent death metal bands of the last few decades and are probably the longest running Brazilian death metal band out there. Forming way back in 1990, the band of three brothers have 10 full albums out prior to Scourge of the Enthroned. They are known for no holds barred death metal with vicious vocals, pounding riffs, blasting drums and screeching solos. Their last release came in 2015 with Forged in Fury. An album that wasn’t brilliant and is probably the only one where Krisiun switched their style up. Forged in Fury saw them adopt a more groove laden, chugging sound on lots of it’s songs.

That is in the past now and with Scourge of the Enthroned, Krisiun have reverted to type with under 40 minutes, and 8 tracks of fire and fury. The album opens with title track, Scourge of the Enthroned with a slowed down intro of intermittent drums and a high pitched squealing guitar. Make the most of this moment though, this is pretty much the only part of the whole album played at any speed other than frenetic. Once it kicks in, organised chaos ensues with the threesome sounding fired up and angry as bassist and vocalist Alex Camargo spews forth rage.

None of what you hear on Scourge of the Enthroned is fast and heavy just for the sake of it. There is some really clever structures and rhythms hidden within the hellish tones. Max Kolesne’s drum work is outstanding throughput the whole record. They utilise his skills well too, with lots of drum fills and intros that take advantage of his hypnotic speed. Demonic III has an insanely cool intro with those drum blasts and crunchy guitars giving a bit of a deathly groove to proceedings. Add in the squealing solo and deep, dark vocals and you have an absolute rager of a track.

Nearly all of the album plays out this way. A Thousand Graves is a no nonsense pit destroyer, starting off at phenomenal pace and not stopping to take a breath until the close. Electricide is just as heavy but has a neat, old school sounding riff led by the talented guitar skills of Moyses Kolesne. Devouring Faith is another that makes good use of the screaming guitar work of Moyses. It is one of my favourites actually. The riff is addictive and the drums rain thunder upon you while the intermittent vocals work really well, allowing the heavy music to sit front and centre.

Scourge of the Enthroned ends on an excellent track called Whirlwind of Immortality. 5 and a half minutes of raging riffs and squealing solos but with a little bit of variety too. The solos are a little more restrained and melodic. The track also uses brief stops to mix things up and there is a brief, but real, melodic section with rhythmic drums and mesmerising guitars. It is a strong way to finish a very decent album that has very few faults.

In fact, the only fault I can really think of with Scourge of the Enthroned is centred on the vocals. They are strong and they have power and menace to them. Over the course of the whole album though, they are a bit monotone. I found myself longing for a deeper, guttural roar or higher pitch scream. Just something slightly different in pitch and tone but it doesn’t come. It is hardly the biggest problem in the world. The album is great, and the vocals are too but I started to find that the songs were blending into each other a bit through the vocals being identical in almost every way on every song.

A minor complaint though, considering I really like this album. The music is brilliantly heavy and visceral. The drums, guitars and bass are furious and there are little clever details hidden within the album that elevate it further. Little timing changes, lightning quick pauses and the like. A very accomplished album from a band who have been doing this for years but obviously still have plenty of fire in the pits of their stomachs.

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You can grab a copy of Scourge of the Enthroned from any of the usual streaming services now, like Apple Music and Spotify. You can grab a physical copy from Century Media here. Find out more about Krisiun from their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.