Endezzma ‘The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder’

Endezzma ‘The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder’

22 January 2021 – Dark Essence records

Words: Mark Green

Hailing from the depths of Norway, Endezzma bring black metal with a twist of death metal mixed in to a perfect cocktail of evil. Although the band have been going for many years, this is only the third album from this noisy bunch.

Latest album ‘The Archer, Fjord and the Thunder‘ is a step up in musicianship from their previous 2017 album ‘The Arcane Abyss‘. The production has managed to keep the sound crisp while still upholding the rawness that accompanies black metal.

We are lead in to intro track ‘The Awakening‘, a 35 second sombre start, giving us feelings of grey. It  kicks straight in to ‘The Name of the Night is a Strong Tower‘ with some evil blackened death metal, turning those feelings of grey in to full on darkness. ‘Anamolious Abomination‘ musically sounds similar to Cradle of Filth, with catchy riffs and blastbeats chopped up with those headbanging moments we love.

The album continues on with pulverising death metal likening to The Black Dahlia Murder and powerful black metal influenced by the best Norway has to offer.
The sounds of the classic Satyricon sound can be heard in ‘Formless and Void‘ as it rages from a slower paced black metal fury to blast beating. Each track continues in this way – brutal tones, mixes of fast and slow paced evil and even points of beauty can be heard. ‘Arrows of Equilibrium‘ is our last chance listening to these extreme mixes, all orchestrated perfectly before end track ‘Closure‘ sends us off back to how it all began, like watching the funeral procession fade away in to the distance.

We are left basking in the bleakness and misery when all is said and done. It doesn’t stop us wanting more of Endezzma though, that’s for sure.