ORDER OF ENNEAD

Order Of Ennead

Earache Records/ CD 2008

ORDER OF ENNEAD was founded two years ago by Steve Asheim. In the face of DEICIDE's temporary dysfunction caused mainly by Glen Benton's personal problems, band's drummer didn't want to waste more time on doing nothing. He got in touch with his mates from COUNCIL OF THE FALLEN- bassist Scott Patrick and vocalist/ guitarist Kevin Quirion. Young, inexperienced yet very talented John Li took over the second guitar and the band's line up was completed. A few months later the quartet entered Audiohammer Studio in Sanford, Florida to record material for ORDER OF ENNEAD's self-titled debut effort. Engineered, mixed by Mark Lewis and mastered by Jim Morris at his famous Morrisound Studios the album saw the light of day at the end of 2008 under the flag of Earache Records.

Overall, ORDER OF ENNEAD's debut release features competently performed melodic black metal mixed with some death and thrash metal elements. Songs featured on this CD are pretty much varied and this will make the album interesting for some of you. Moments filled with powerful riffs and intense drumming are cleverly mixed with some atmospheric passages, catchy leading melodies co-exist in a good symbiosis with rhythmic breakdowns. Apart from „regular songs” the album features also two interesting instrumental pieces: calm and epic „Interlude With Reason” and also very dark piano etude „Prelude To Ruin” (what an undefined tension in the air, ugh!). Another great piano part can be heard at the end of „Dismantling An Empire”. What's notable, all the pianos featured on the album were written and played by... none other than Steve Asheim himself (I would never think he would've played something like that).

When it comes to Quirion's screaming I have mixed feelings. Sometimes his vocals sound really dark and devilish (like for example parts in a track called „As Long As I Have Myself I Am Not Alone”), but sometimes I get the impression that Kevin's throat isn't strong enough to that kind of music. There's almost nothing to complain about Asheim's main work. His drumming is still very intense, powerful, and... a bit monotonous, especially when in comes to these non-stop blastbeats. Let's finally say something about John Li and his remarkable guitar parts which are definitely the brightest highlight of the album. His enormous abilities to play fast, powerful, rapid riffs and outstandingly melodic guitar solos deserves highest respect. This young Asian virtuoso really knows how to play six strings guitar. At the same time John's ideas fit very well with the songs featured on this CD. I mention it because I still see people complaining about melodic parts of Ralph Santolla on the latest DEICIDE albums. ORDER OF ENNEAD don't have such problem with lead guitar. Partially it comes from the fact they don't aspire to be the most brutal and hateful act of the genre and all the melodic ingredients delivered by Mr. Li don't ruin the rest. On the other hand, this is the first album so the band didn't have anything to prove...

To sum things up, ORDER OF ENNEAD definitely has some potential so if the guys will take things more seriously, everything can happen in the future. For now, like hundreds of other bands, they can offer a decent dose of black death metal, well produced and played. Well done, but still not enough to stand out.

6/12