Essenz – Mundus Numen (2012)

Making its way from Germany, today we have Essenz’s latest full-length released titled “Mundus Numen”. With a very healthy mix of traditional Doom Metal with some Black Metal and Sludge hints, this release takes you down to the bowels of hell and back with a very powerful and dark sound. For six tracks, “Mundus Numen” showcases the band’s tuned low guitars and raw power when it comes to speed things up.

“Extinguish Shapes - Innermediate” opens this release with very powerful Sludgy riffs that nicely morph back and forth to painful Doom sections. The atmospheric elements make this track even more dense thanks to their unconventional nature, and the female vocals add a very nice extra touch. Before we know it, “Sea of Light – Pleroma” explodes in our face with some furious Black Metal in the vein of bands like Watain and Horna. The switch from Doom to BM is pretty rapid and very well engineered to deliver a powerful blow. This track again drones back between furious BM riffs and some deeper slower passages.

Things go back to slow and painful Doom with “Extricate Spirits – Amor”, our favorite track of this release. While the core is down tuned and powerful, there are a few playful riffs and a pulsating bass guitar line that separate this track from your run of the mill song. The emphasis on creating a very cavernous atmosphere is excellent and is easily achieved by this quality band. Moving into more experimental and Noise/Drone areas, “Observing Spectres – Schizopheria” nicely breaks up the flow of this release and delivers an interesting out of body experience.

Combining everything into one track, Essenz decides to end “Mundus Numen” with the excruciating “To The Bone – Mania”, a track that is not apt for the faint of heart and weak of soul. Clocking around 13 minutes, this song is just too sweet to ruin with words and we leave it to the listener to fully discover the band’s power in this monumental piece.

If you are looking for an excellent mixture of Doom and Black Metal, this is the release you have been waiting for. Essenz manages to compress both genres into an excellent sounding release that will leave you with nightmares, but at the same time will make you want to listen to it more and more. Be sure to get this album from Svart Records and let the destruction begin.

Release: May 23rd, 2012

Country: Germany