Ahh Enthroned, one of my favorites and probably one of the most underrated Black Metal bands on a major metal label ever. No one can forget the classics "Prophecies of Pagan Fire", "Towards the Skullthrone of Satan", "Carnage In Worlds Beyond", and last but not least "XES Haereticum". What made these albums so great weren't the memorable riffs, or the excellent drummers that have performed on these albums, but were the demon like vocals of Lord Sabathan. Sabathan's trademark high-pitched tone could never be imitated nor mistaken for, but when he left the band in 2006, (us) Enthroned fans had no idea what the band would sound like without him. Nornagest (also guitar) took over and in 2007 Enthroned proved that even without Sabathan, they could still produce excellent music with "Tetra Karcist", a dark and more mature atmospheric album. After I wondered what the band would think of next?

So when I heard Enthroned were coming out with an album title "Pentagrammaton", I was sure this would be another "Tetra Karcist". To some fans, "Pentagrammaton" was sort of a letdown, myself included when I first listen to it, it seemed that the songs didn't click as usual and the classic memorable Enthroned riffs were not present. However, just like "Tetra Karcist", the band continued the darkness on "Pentagrammaton" with interesting intros on some of the songs ("Unconscious Minds" being one of them) although, the songs tend to just enter one ear and out the other with no time to make an impact. As I mentioned before, Enthroned always made some of the best riffs around, and on "Pentagrammaton" the riffs aren't necessary bad, they just seemed to be bland (as with the solos). Another disappointment with this album was that most of the songs are really short.

Overall "Pentagrammaton" isn't a horrible or necessarily a bad album, as metal fans we tend to blow up and bash the little things any band does, it is just a rarity how a band like Enthroned could put out a mediocre album with an overall perfect discography. In a way this would be Nornagest's version of “Armoured Bestial Hell”, the only bad album Sabathan was on. However "Pentagrammaton" is way out of "Armoured Bestial Hell's" league and is a much more enjoyable listen. A good effort but most certainly not Enthroned's best.

Best songs; 'The Vitalized Shell', 'Ornament of Grace', 'Pentagrammaton', and 'Unconscious Minds'.