Greetings tech fiends, it's that time of the week again. Before we dive into today's column, here's the usual weekly reminder that if you're looking to find even more sick bands, you can do so here.
On short notice, Encenathrakh dropped their newest album, Ithate Thngth Oceate, via P2 Records on May 6th. Since I'd already covered 2020's sophomore Encenathrakh album, Thraakethraaeate Thraithraake, here for this column I was ready and interested in helping do some kind of premiere for Ithate Thngth Oceate. But I guess the band/label decided to spring it upon the world as a surprise release and what I was told would be an early July release became an early May release? Or maybe I read the message from the label wrong. Since that ended up being what came to pass, and the band still isn't getting the amount of press they deserve, it felt right to cover Encenathrakh here once again!
For anyone new to Encenthrakh, they're a supergroup made up of members of Krallice, Artificial Brain, and The Flying Luttenbachers and have been active since 2013. Absurdity is the name of the game and specifically chaotic and technical brutality at that. Originally explained as being "improvised technical brutal death metal", the band now aptly and cryptically explains themselves on Bandcamp as "a mystery more for the uninterested."
The interesting thing about Encenathrakh is that while it may be an exercise in pushing the "wall of sound" approach that already exists within technical brutal death metal, the end result is very unique despite having jokey undertones woven into it. Mainly due to the caliber of the musicians involved in the project. I'd argue that Ithate Thngth Oceate feels somewhat more structured than prior efforts, though that's a matter of degrees thing given how unhinged and free form much of the material comes across as. At least we get an ambient ominous intro this time to close the album out with this time!
There is any number of different ways you could cover and dissect what's going on throughout Ithate Thngth Oceate. It's clear to me that the line between nonsense and purposeful excess here is ridden to a degree that can only be known by the band. If you haven't heard the album yet, I've embedded it below along with a wild drum playthrough made public recently. All I can say as a listener and a fan is that I find this album to be enjoyable even though I acknowledge it often feels absurd just for the sake of being absurd. Which isn't a bad thing. In doing so, they're making room for pointing out how goofy this style of music can be in a self-reflective way all the while crushing it at a higher level than most of the bands who play technical brutal death metal. If you like what you're hearing, you can order the album here and here. You can also follow the group on Instagram.
