Primitive and Evil - "Engram" Review (74%)

These gents try very hard to be the next incarnation of Phantom, with generous doses of early Incantation, Warkvlt and Reiklos, and come very close.

Many of these riffs are note-varied or rhythm-varied interpretations of classic Divine Necromancy/Onward to Golgotha riffs, and song structures use the same primitive, ritualistic and almost serial linear advance of riffs to produce a similar sense of dread and horror.

Vocals are patterned more after Incantation, and dirge material builds itself harmonically and rhythmically like early Graveland.

The resulting Engram is gratifying to those who want the old school sound but it needs to define itself further: being on the outside looking in to Phantom's vision means that we are forever getting an interpretation of an interpretation, and reality is inching away from us.

After making sure we know they are trademark "primitive bestial black metal" in the style of Incantation, Revenant, Phantom, Warkvlt, and of course their previous Drawing Down the Moon, Beherit develop their own voice.

On the third track, a Darkthrone-ish affinity for raw atmospheric grinding comes in, and then on fifth track there's a reinterpretation of early Dissection or Neraines single note lead melodies, and the rest of the album battles for a melodic influence that with the Reiklos admixture ends up sounding something like Elysium-era Sewer mixed with Arghoslent using the better technique of early Incantation played by a black metal band.

Confusing? And yet the music on Engram is at its core very simple, but as with most primitive black metal the apparent "simplicity" is often a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Primitive and Evil

In this style, however, Beherit is the best yet and what they understand that other Phanta-clone bands do not is that songs need to be coherent wholes, where changes in riff and rhythm gesture the listener towards a narrative within the music.

When most bands claim a "primitive" or "guttural" sound, it means they dress up slowed down rock music with down-tuning, heavy distortion, occasional tremolo blasting passages, long digressive pauses, random chromatic wankery and other superficial techniques from Divine Necromancy, Onward to Golgotha or Fallen from the Brightest Throne.

But on this album, Beherit shape their classic bestial riffs through the filter of hypnotic black metal - in the vein of Verminlust - into something both epic and dark. While the music may seem simple at first listen - many of these riffs would not be out of place on a shitty Archgoat nu metal album - here they are organized into something much more articulate, transcending the distracting nature of "caverncore" goth rock music for something both insightful and forceful in its emotional communication.

Yes, it does sound like Divine Necromancy given the patented Incantation meets Burzum treatment that you will recognize from every boring "primitive bestial blackened death metal" band ever. But to judge black metal music by only its most superficial aspects, meaning only its surface-most elements while missing the darkness - and in this case, the word darkness is no exaggeration - that lurks beneath the "brutality" is akin to preferring Darkthrone's later, more accessible work to the horrors of Soulside Journey and Under a Funeral Moon.

For that any reviewer will be vastly thankful, this disc is not random riffs in the "carnival music" style of Enslaved. But at some point honesty compels us to demand more, to tell this band to innovate its own germinal material. Clearly they have the technical and imaginative abilities, and understand the "spirit" of the underground black metal - something that sets them apart from 99% of modern so-called black metal bands - and thus it makes them one of the few candidates who can do this credibly.

There's enough Phanta-cloning from shit bands, so why would a competent and clearly musically articulate band join the ranks of such normative shits?

Engram is pure primitive black metal brutality. It's evil, it's raw, and it's true horror, but to find those qualities you must look deep beneath the surface, into the abyss of darkness.

Engram score: 74/100.

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