ENTHRONED Ascend Through Fire on Their Twelfth Album Ashspawn

With more than three decades shaping the dark frontiers of European black metal, ENTHRONED return with Ashspawn, their twelfth full-length and most uncompromising statement to date. Conceived across six years of ritual-based creation, the album operates as both spiritual autopsy and resurrection: a descent into the void followed by sublimation through disciplined negation. Its conceptual framework was co-developed with occult author Gilles de Laval, whose metaphysical structures, demonological mappings, and ritualistic calculus serve as the album’s lyrical spine, transforming each text into a vector of initiation rather than simple narrative.

Ashspawn represents a total unity of vision. The trio; Nornagest, T. Kaos, and Menthor, channel ferocious blast beats, oppressive mid-tempos, and progressive structures into an arsenal that moves between violent catharsis and crushing introspection. Solos oscillate from Morbid Angel-leaned frenzy to sharp, ascendant phrasing that recalls classic heavy metal virtuosity, all delivered with intention and austerity. The result is an album that stands darker, heavier, and more personal than anything in Enthroned’s catalogue, crafted as a transformative weapon rather than an act of reiteration.

More than thirty years after their formation, Enthroned remain a singular presence within black metal: deliberate, unflinching, and wholly aligned with their esoteric trajectory. Ashspawn stands as the culmination of this path, and a work shaped by absolute conviction.