The well-chosen title
Intensity only begins to describe the absolute mayhem contained on this CD, the second sonic extrapolation from Greek black metal band
Enshadowed. Separated into two chapters named "Into the Sanctuary of Death" and "Enshadowed Souls Overflow,"
Intensity is indeed the sound of darkest Hades, as it vomits forth its vast legions of death and destruction -- or something along those lines. All kidding aside, the minute-long, piano-led intro that kicks things off is merely a decoy, and compared to what follows, you'd be hard-pressed to encounter a darker, more claustrophobically oppressive example of black metal anywhere on this planet. First offerings "Sunya-Bindu" and "Mental Irruption" are both quite one-dimensional in their hellish hatred, however, and it's only with the far more diversified "Obvious Inexistence" that
Enshadowed finally strikes upon an unquestionable winner of a tune. Thankfully, they stick with it for "chapter two," eventually getting pretty damn eclectic with the shockingly delicate and thoughtful synthesizer midsection contained inside the memorable, three-part lunacy of "Requiem of Hatred (Jesus Christ Cage, Pt. 2)" -- nice one boys! Taken as a whole, for the unprepared, the sheer fury of this music will seem like an impenetrable wall, but for well-traveled metal extremists, there's plenty of compelling exploration to be done here. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia