How did such a band as Enthroned wind up on Napalm Records ? This label is known for its gothic metal acts such as Tristania, Sirenia, The Sins Of Thy Beloved or other metal artists such as Vintersorg, Summoning and Hollenthon, but surely not for its black metal artists. Except for Abigor, I don't think Napalm Records has any other black metal bands among its catalog. But since it's a record company that has been growing over the last three years, they might have decided to widen their musical horizon a little bit further.

They have decided to recruit the Belgian pagan black metallists known as Enthroned. This is a band I have known about for about 7 years and that has released four albums so far, but I am not really that familiar with them. I had once heard their first album Prophecies Of Pagan Fires, but I wasn't impressed at all with their stuff. Among the hundreds of black metal bands around, I would say half of them are nonsense to me (I don't understand their true black metal thing actually). So before inserting this album into my CD player, I really didn't know what to expect, but as usual with Napalm Records one can expect above average material.

The first listen occurred while I was browsing the net to find out a bit more about the band, and it didn't really make a big impression on me until their last song which is quite loud and heavy. So I decided to really concentrate on the second listen and it proved me to be right. When Napalm Records hires a band, it turns out to be high quality. I don't regret asking for this promo, because this is pure fucking black metal in your face. Not really far from mainstream black metal as far as the sound thanks to Mr. Harris Johns (Sodom, Kreator), Enthroned plays a fast, brutal but also loud and heavy mid-paced black metal of a damn good vintage. The band combines fast and aggressive drum sound with melodic guitar sound, plus great guitar solos on almost every track. On Graced By Evil Blood, the music wanders off to some epic metal atmosphere with even clean voices and that's what makes this album great. The band has not decided to stick with it's aggressive black metal roots. This is a hell of a strong offering and it should be the album to make Enthroned one of the biggest names in the black metal world.

I am definitely going to get this piece of unholy great black metal directly from Napalm Records as usual, especially since the first limited edition comes with 3 unreleased bonus tracks to celebrate the band's 10th anniversary.