Enthroned
Prophecies Of Pagan Fire

Centuries of grudges, hatred nurtured among the spectral forests and crystal-clear lakes have generated a science that has enlightened man and forged a culture parallel to Christianity, underground: the cult of the self, awareness of what surrounds us, fornication with one's sister…

Fornication with one’s sister?!?!?!? It seems that for the members of Enthroned, this is one of the relevant aspects of being Satanists, unconventional and damnably "True".

The Belgian Enthroned were born in the early nineties and released their first chapter in 1995, early enough to be considered "historic", late enough to be accused of jumping on the winning bandwagon. Despite never reaching significant peaks, they must be considered among the first bands of the "second generation", a period that generally lasted a lustrum (1995-2000) which saw the fixation of some categories, musically and culturally peculiar for the genre: satanic image beyond all imagination and coherence, slowly detaching from the Norwegian style, from its pathos to embrace more stereotypical solutions that would set a standard. And then a bloodthirsty and bloody imagery, damned and horrific at the same time. And then incest with the sisters, but at least that applies only to Enthroned…

'Prophecies Of Pagan Fire' was released in 1995 and represents in a sense (despite its lack of influence due to its lack of success) the bridge between the old way of conceiving Gothic Black (not yet Gothic Black) and the new one. Equally taking from the symphonic black of Emperor and the theatrical and horrific side of Troll, Enthroned carried forward a mixture that would later serve as a model for bands like Dimmu Borgir and Cradle Of Filth, which would turn this sound into a golden goose. Naturally, Prophecies does not recall either Emperor's In The Nightside Eclipse nor Borgir's Stormblast: it stands in the middle, an ideal crossroads. The sound becomes less chaotic and harsh than the masters of Telemark, smoothing the edges with sudden slowdowns, trashy breaks, and the accentuation of the horror side; on the other hand, the Belgians do not reach the levels of gaudiness that their successors have fed us over the years, with a climax of baroque and kitsch truly irritating.

The riffing remains articulated and evolved, merging all aspects of the Norwegian sound (German thrash, single-chord riffs, blastbeats) but bringing them into a context increasingly less tied to the extreme ideology of the North, initiating that standardized sound typical of the second generation (Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir), now simply definable as "Black Metal", without sub-genres or special classifications.

The sound incorporates a series of elements that would find great fortune in the symphonic environment, such as continuous middle breaks, with guitar and keyboard duets recreating gothic moments; this is actually the most harmless period of black, following a moment of strong human and social unrest like the Norwegian phase, and preceding the rediscovery of personal sounds of the last six years (Depressive, Black Ambient, rediscovery of the Underground). The lyrics remain around generally low standards, the result of a "discount" Satanism, very theatrical and not philosophical, always devoted to anti-Christian invective but in a harmless way, often dusting off themes in contrast with each other, such as Paganism, Satanism, Cemeteries, Middle Ages, Fantasy…

This does not detract from recognizing Enthroned's more than high artistic value, linked to a historical importance far from secondary: it was mainly the distrust towards this standardization of sound and image that gave little to this band, caught in a moment of stasis, and moreover plagued by some lineup changes. 'Prophecies Of Pagan Fire' is a record that should be listened to beyond its limits, enjoying oddities that were innovative for the time, like very metal solos, gothic riffing and a strong desire to instill fear with very poor means.