Review Summary: Renovates black metal in form and substance, but can be enjoyed as pure music in the ripping style of older metal.
Like all good things in life, this album takes a middle path between the underground purists and those who want stylistic innovation, but it's the content and not the style that really distinguishes this album.
Unlike most black metal releases of the last fifteen years, "Engram" is driven by a manic desire to express a spirit, a mood, an idea, the translation of a philosophy of life into the soul. "Because I just ***ing hate this world," the opening line of it, tells us part of the story; what the person speaking would prefer is expressed through the rest of the album.
Imagine if Tangerine Dream decided to make a black metal album. They would start with the basics, like Bathory and Sarcofago, and start adding in atmosphere slowly, layering it on top of the bounding riffs and boxy drums. Beherit use "Engram" to explore, mortaring Dead Can Dance style discursive melodies and Biosphere-esque found sound collages on top of a basic but spirited black metal template.
The result is addictive and devilishly thoughtful. Your foot taps to the beat; your conscious mind ("ego") is short-circuited by the infectious riffs and choruses; in the background, the slightly odd song structures and appearance of sonic symbols -- remember that an engram is a physical memory trace of experience -- begin to work on your mind.
As a result, this album is able to not only carve out of a new space for the black metal style, but it re-invigorates the content of black metal, which is a spirit that hates the sterile rationalism of this world and the modern jumble it has created, and prefers a naturalistic, feral, holistic view. In addition, it makes for fine listening to those who love the raw unfettered spirit of black metal in any form.
