It has become increasingly rare to encounter a black metal album that makes and impression on you from the very first song and drags you with full force through its entire duration. Yet for the legendary ENTHRONED, this seems a bit effortless. Their dark energy, driven by the haunting shadow-trenched progressive guitar work inherent to their occult black metal, the emotionally charged vocals, and the unsettling ambient and ritualistic passages, without a doubt summons your attention with no hesitation and draws you into the pulse of their own rising fury.

“Ashspawn” is the new offering by ENTHRONED. In its essence, it’s a grand symbiosis of ferocious strength and almost noble sophistication that makes you feel the messages, carving their way through the lyrics, and to sink into the unison formed between you and the melodies, the vicious shrieks, and the enthralling whispers of each track. As I said, this has become a rare phenomenon within the genre – one I sincerely hope will never fade away.

It doesn’t end here , of course . As far as I was informed, the musicians crafted the album in close collaboration with the occult author Gilles de Laval, channeling  arcane praxis, metaphysical calculations, and esoteric cartography – something very palpable when you actually start listening to the album and delve deeper into it.

The structure of the songs is crafted in a deeply captivating way, where numerous elements lock seamlessly into one another to form a singular, haunting black metal treasure. What those elements are? Blasphemous blast beats. Mid-tempo melodies of remarkable allure, wrapped in wild death metal solos played with a Floyd Rose. Delving into the depths of the metaphysical dimensions and opening what feels like a cathartic abyss for the listener to plunge into, “Ashspawn” emerges as a beautiful Satanic hymn, radiating blasts of fire – untamed, feral, pure.

I must also highlight the striking ritualistic segments, woven throughout the record and those cinematic passages laced with ominous narratives (most notably in the opening track “Crawling Temples” and “Ashen Advocacy”) – all wrapped in an atmosphere so dark and furious that it perfectly mirrors the demonic energy of ENTHRONED, erupting without comrpomise.

With a discography stretching back to 1994, I think you wall know what to expect from ENTHRONED. With “Ashspawn”, their twelfth full-length offering, the band descends even deeper into its own inner spiritual seeking, unveiling a transformative and potent work that will, without doubt, resonate with you on a deep level as it was meant to. Nothing really newly invented here, but truly authentinc and captivating.

Album: “Ashspawn”
Band: Enthroned
Country: Belgium
Release Date: December 5th, 2025
Label: Season of Mist
Pre-orders: https://orcd.co/enthronedashspawn