With an unfathomably deep and frothing well of inner dread swollen in mind and boundless spiritual outburst envisioned Finnish avant-droning atmosludge/doom quartet ENTHEOMORPHOSIS have readied themselves for complete purgation within this debut full-length album. ‘Pyhä kuilu‘ intends a dissolution and reinvention of the self which paths completely through the umbra before reaching any one point of meaningful illumination. A dark and pained ritual of psychic release centered around their fully enmeshed rhythmic chemistry these recordings are defined by surreal obsidian entrancement along a path of ego-death, a harrowing invitation to hone the self within the span of this ~32 minute downward seeking scowl and be refined by their course through abysm.

Entheomorphosis surged from thought into flesh-motion circa ~2021-2022 by way of drummer Lassi Männikkö (Som Är Död, ex-Gangrened) and vocalist/guitarist Vesa Ajomo (Dark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä, et al.) who’d felt the strain of pandemia and, if I’ve read between the lines correctly, built the bones of these pieces from jammed and improvised sessions. They’d just as soon brought in bassist Lauri Kivelä and guitarist J.P. Koivisto both of Enphin and set out to capture the spiritual procession at hand aiming to highlight the primal intensity of what they were channeling. Built within the same space where Ajomo‘s Waste of Space Orchestra was called to form they’ve described the intent and process of creating ‘Pyhä kuilu‘ as patiently hewn and intuitively struck, suggesting that their passage through the dark was the only way to find the light. I’d interpret their words as an artist’s process of reinforcement under duress, adaptive fortitudes built from self-gutting expression.

Flesh and spirit enlaced. — ‘Pyhä kuilu‘ is a performance in four unequal parts, structured like a drone/doom metal record and splayed into two equal poles of action. We begin at a point of foreboding ritualistic summon from sky down to soil to a boiling groan as ear-flapping winds, droning guitar wield and slow-kicked ominous doom metal fanfare introduce us to “Alkiema”, taking a full 4:40 minutes to strike all at once. The distinct ear-wrenching howl of Ajomo enters without warning, emerging in frustrated and sickened tone alongside a broad and blunt-nosed sludge/doom metal riff, bringing a distraught and sickened tone to this key opening piece. There is a vomitous upheaval happening within the surreal drift of this song, a viciously stated beast on one end but a kinda chill, serious but bounding sludge groove on the other. Within that ~thirteen minute song only about seven aren’t dark ambient/drone-doom in motion, making for a strong point of immersion right off the bat and about half the album already stated.

“Sikinä” carries a distorted bass tone into a more readily cut and carved-up ritual, another disgusted and snarling blade-licking menace lead through a goblin-toothed grater as Entheomorphosis‘ action reads as a primordial scene of sloughing skin, prehistoric sludge cinema amidst the groan of enormous machinery. This piece feels like it was built from a jammed session more than its surroundings, perhaps because of its drum solo introduction and grinding deep-space rock basslines which I believe Oranssi Pazuzu fans will appreciate. It erupts from a similarly disgusted, challenged headspace where the rant that arises around ~2:52 minutes in reads like an ancient grievance being unloaded lungs-first. This was also the piece which’d first revealed some of the deeper set layers of synth (see also: “Iätön”) which haloes a fair deal of the action on this album.

Greater Refined Soul Stone — At that the point of no return, Side B, we know the general bestial language of Entheomorphosis‘ summon yet the missing piece is a pinnacled action over atmosphere, any given point where they take the tumble into rougher waters and break the tightly choreographed tempo map apart a bit. Closer “Iätön” is potentially that more challenging, faster paced ejection from their pit and it comes with late 90’s/early 2000’s Neurosis worthy percussive trample as its first act builds. As a counterpoint and a destination beyond “Alkiema” this piece is necessarily active, no longer drifting along skinning itself alive and now brimming with electrical overload. The use of guitar feedback and droning waves is the incidental finesse of this piece, the most potent point of psychedelic entanglement, though the most necessary action comes with the unbothered, fixated thread that’d arisen beyond the ~8 minute mark of this piece as it provides something close to the suggested transformational endpoint promised. When we include “Iätön” into the equation the whole of the performance achieved in one motion is easier to envision, a point of alchemical explosivity occurring naturally between as few ingredients as possible and unto compellingly curated fume.

The final shape of ‘Pyhä kuilu‘ amounts to a series of three eruptive events, each an emotional outburst in harness of the greater hiss of their depicted biome as it scrapes loose angst’s detritus through horrendous torsion. Entheomorphosis could probably insert even more unhinged expressivity into their work but what they’ve captured here has a certain singularly growling eminence to it, not only in terms of their surreal sound but the fixated predatorial gaze they’ve set upon its vision. It is hard not to admire the character taken on within and imagine the effect of a live performance which might allow for embellishment, or extension. Though I didn’t find the whole of the experience as challenging or elaborate as expected the shorter nature of this ritual allows it to develop in quicker cycled waves, just enough time to reach a point of curious fascination on the first run through and just quick enough to warrant another. It was an easy sell on my part as a big fan of several of the associated projects and their respective musical personalities but it’d only stuck around in my realm for the dark, dramatic and at times painful ritualistic quality of the experience which reads well as a process of purge and realization. A high recommendation.

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