Metal Underground.com

Texas trio Enormicon is one of those bands that defies classification. This band has a sound that is cumulative of many different styles on their new one, "Storm of Swords." Their music has been described as everything from experimental to retro doom, but none of those attempts at classifying them is truly descriptive of the sound that emantes from them. Enormicon is more of a hybrid of many musical templates.

At times alienated and oftentimes retro, "Storm of Swords" runs the gamut of emotions. There are epic tracks such as "Pray for Death" that accomplish a spaced-out feel that meanders from softer bass interludes to more chaotic guitar spurts. When not engaging in an interesting assailment of leads, guitarist/vocalist Clayton Davis goes from a melodic style of singing, which almost channels Perry Farrell, to soft whispered vocals and plenty of low-fi guitar, like in the track "Gargantuan." Similarly, "Slaghammer" is punctuated with lots of quiet segments and plenty of guitar and whammy action. It is a simpler track, which gets fleshed out nicely due to the good breaks and transitions Enormicon use.

Enormicon get compared to Voivod and other experimental bands, since the notes they use and the style of playing they employ are a bit eccentric. I can see the allusions to the aforementioned band in tracks such as "Dark Forces," which is a chaotic exercise in stomping riffs that doesn't follow your average formula. The reason that Enormicon also get hailed as doom metal by some is its penchant for long, epic songs like "Brotherhood of the Plague." On this one, the utilization of cool fuzz and feedback lends to that retro feel that surfaces on many of the songs on this release. "Fury Shall Know the Warmth of Your Blood" contains good trippy interludes and effects that make for decent listening, except for when they get a bit redundant.

For a six-song release, "Storm of Swords" is both different and promising. Enormicon has a style that, while derivative of several influences, does have its own signature. The chaos and atonal nature of its sound conveys a musical misanthropy, which is interesting. I feel that if the band would punctuate its sound and blend things less haphazardly some of the time, the music would hit the right mark more. It is possible to have a bit more order in chaos, and sometimes "Storm of Swords" loses that. These three musicians are on the right track, though.