Description

Inferno has its special magic, probably black, but still mysterious and evil that has its wayward ways to affect and bestow a certain amount of addiction towards it. The first wave of Black Metal, led by the infamous Venom, Possessed and Hellhammer lighted the torch for the horned god below, servicing the dark arts whether as a cause of belief or plain self interest in the unknown. I have always been fascinated by the murkiness of the old gristle sounds, barked chants and dismembering rhythms that cried out the witching hour. Therefore, I introduce the death metal act Entrapment, out of the down below pits of the Netherlands, devouring the unbelievers with chugging, dirty and uncultivated Death / Black / Thrash Metal fully doped by the flames of the older gods that tormented in the 80s right before the outbursts of the tainted American Death Metal. With their debut album, The Obscurity Within, Entrapment brought over chaos to the wastelands in an old school fashion. Following an intro that resembled an opening for an old horror movie, without warning, the reddened storm began spreading its yield in full force with Catatonic Rites, which made the introduction to the tenacious speed rhythm demon hitting hard with the augmentation of slashing riffing with a few bits of old grooves that even resembled Crust / Punk, classic oriented soloing reminding of old Slayer and Venom, along with a nasty pattern of tainted Cronos style vocal performance just a bit more extreme and bile. The song itself, like most others on the album, asserted a rather steady level of performance and material. In general, Michel Jonker had it in him to compose a fine tribute to evil, celebrating some of the bloodiest moments back from when extreme Metal, Satanic and Pagan in basis, began flourishing. No doubt that there is flow within the tracks, which most of the time sped away leaving a path of roadkills, but also, as quite a selection of examples when Entrapment recycles themselves, in particular with the same song entries and intros, pretty much the same main riffing possibly a bit deformed by bits and pieces of simple licks, but not varying there that much, same goes for the rhythms. I didn’t expect that much of the vocals, pretty flat when it comes to melody, as the pattern suited the genre and the intent. Soul Entrapment really kicked it up a notch with a fine intro prior to its arrival, flavoured with sinister riffing, old Paradise Lost based melodies and agonizing soloing. I also noticed Eternal Bliss and Feast Of Atonement to be quite impressive with crazed, tasty raw evil bastards that won’t fire. Production wise, you might take reference of the first albums of Venom and Hellhammer to understand what you will go up against. In short, a recommended release for the open minded a nasty gift for old school fans that have been seeking for bestial menacing, moderately produced but itching the range of class.

Track listing:
1. Catatonic Rites
2. Shallow Breath
3. Feast of Atonement
4. The Obscurity Within…
5. Dead and Cold
6. Infernal Blasphemies
7. Anxiety
8. Eternal Bliss
9. Mentally Deranged
10. Soul Entrapment