Entrapment – Through Realms Unseen (Corpse Compactor Metal)
Good, finally, I needed some color in my art to break up all the damn black and white on the slider. Awesome art by Marald van Haasteren. And, you know, sometimes I feel like this decaying corpse right here yeah. The weight of everything pressing down on you, you release a groan, and you’re basically like, “okay, I’m done.” And the name of this band, Entrapment, it’s just so fluid. Runs out of the mouth like the foul bile being squeezed out of our corpse friend here like some garbage press. Because that’s what we all are, human garbage. But in typical Netherlands metal fashion, these boys have an esoteric theme running through their work as well, but based on what I’ve heard from their earlier releases, it’s by far the best thing they’ve ever done (haven’t listened to the new split though). If more bands could develop this well while sticking to a core sound over the course of their careers, and these guys have released various cuts over a decade, the metal world wouldn’t make me so damn angry sometimes. Learn how to innovate, people, or learn how to develop your sound, break molds, press the human race under the weight of your musical prowess.
Entrapment done got me hooked. Through Realms Unseen, though obviously not mind-blowing enough for a full-site review or interview, or “worship” as I call it around here, was very close. There’s really only one thing that stopped it from happening, and I’ll get to it. The first thing you’re going to note about these guys when you listen to this is they totally crush with their writing. They’re a dynamic whole with interconnected parts. Nothing stands out, in the sense of overpowering one component with another. The guitars never take over the bass, for example. This is a classic mistake, simply because a band lack that single-entity playing style and can happen with any type of music, honestly. You end up focusing too much on that riff, or however the main lines are delivered. But these guys are tight, and one piece of Through Realms Unseen cannot exist without the others. The drums, the harmonics, the vocals delivering steady but at an equal level, and the writing, my God. Forget God, this is before God as some say. Entrapment feed into a primal quality that is rarely heard in metal these days. I don’t mean a battering or sludge pile, I mean they get the sound down into your marrow, they give you a sense of tradition but revitalized. The only problem is that the music on this full-length that hits best is so overwhelmingly good it makes other moments easy to forget once you’ve listened to it enough. When they hit a sick passage, it’s so incredible you’d rather put that song or another on repeat and forget the rest, which is a shame because they’re so damn talented. But they shouldn’t be ashamed by this kind of output, because nearly every song leaves you feeling something. Check out track two, “The Seeker,” and you’ll know what I mean when the main verse hits. I mean wow WTF are these guys even human? Don’t think so. There’s a reason this one sold out so fast is what I’m saying.
Written by Stanley Stepanic
Entrapment: Through Realms Unseen
Doomentia Records, Pulverized Records, Snake Oil Kassetteforlag
4.4 / 5
