For over 30 years, Enthroned have been a mainstay of the Belgian black metal scene. With their 12th album, Ashspawn, scheduled for release on December 5 through Season of Mist, they reaffirm their role as relentless innovators. This album is more than just another addition to their impressive discography—It’s a bold step into a new chapter.
Vocalist and longtime visionary Nornagest affirms this change with confidence: “I would say that it represents a new era for the band.” The band are building this new era on a core rejection of modern trends and a return to their raw, unpolished roots. “We’re fed up with the compromises, and we’re going to do it our way,” Nornagest asserts. This philosophy comes through clearly in the immersive 50-minute journey, a testament to Enthroned’s strong commitment to their vision.
The Hand of Chaos: T. Kaos Joins the Fray
The creative energy behind Ashspawn is immediate and decisive, largely thanks to the addition of guitarist and bassist T. Kaos. Ashspawn is the first Enthroned album to feature Kaos, a musician Nornagest had been trying to recruit for over a decade. Their creative connection is obvious. “I’ve always admired his style—the way his guitar echoes what he’s conveying to us,” Nornagest explains. “On a personal level, we’re completely in sync. It’s the first time in a while I’ve had someone who shares the same vision as I do, so that you can see and feel it.”
This unified front has produced a sound that Nornagest describes as “a bit more back to the early ’90s and 2000s black metal,” resulting in a record marked by greater intensity, spontaneity, and a stronger sense of dynamics. Kaos, who also plays bass, is no stranger to collaborative energy; alongside Enthroned drummer Menthor, he creates compelling, blackened soundscapes in the formidable death metal band Lvcifyre, whose 2021 album The Broken Seal was a genre gem.
A Vocal Ascent from the Pit
This spirit of renewal extended to Nornagest’s own performance. He saw Ashspawn as an opportunity to challenge himself vocally and explore new territories in his career. “I wanted to try to expand my range; I’ve always wanted to express myself with it, exploring the different ranges, from low to high, and various styles,” he says. “My band members encouraged me on this album, motivating me to try something unusual.” The result is a commanding, diverse performance that ranges from guttural depths to searing highs, perfectly complementing the album’s profound thematic focus.
This artistic fearlessness defines Enthroned’s three-decade career, which started in 1993 in Namur, Belgium. From their wild 1995 debut, Prophecies of Pagan Fire, through times of tragedy and reinvention, the band have consistently embodied a ritualistic vision, establishing themselves as one of black metal’s most enduring and intellectually rigorous groups.
Lyrical Calculus and Esoteric Mapping
Lyrically, Ashspawn explores Gnostic rebellion and the rejection of self-deification. The album creates a cohesive mythology where the listener is not just a passive observer but an active participant in a cosmic revolution against a tyrannical, demiurgic creation. This philosophical stance follows a path of transformation through destruction, where the self is intentionally shattered and purified in a “sovereign flame.” Through this process, one is reborn as a new, independent authority, beyond the corrupted duality of the material world.
Tracks like “Sightless” and “Chrysalid” demonstrate this necessary deconstruction—sacrificing sight and flesh to be “forged anew.” This rebirth is not a return to innocence but an evolution into something more powerful and alien, a “Cold Black Sun” existing beyond the fallen cosmos.
Sigils and the Sovereign Flame
To create this profound esoteric framework, Nornagest worked closely with occult author Gilles de Laval. “He took every lyric and created a sigil for all of them. It’s a magical work for each song,” Nornagest reveals. Laval authored a preface and additional texts for each track, emphasizing the album’s central theme of “transformation born from desolation.”
Nornagest emphasizes that this concept is the album’s core. “From that desolate state, you reach peaks and become a better version of yourself,” he says. “The whole album revolves around this.” This transformative journey offers a complete, immersive experience. “The goal was to create a complete journey—a proper journey in every aspect—from the depths of despair and darkness to the highest peaks,” Nornagest elaborates.
He suggests listening to the entire track with lyrics handy to understand the intentional blend of sound and esoteric symbolism. “If you want to hear it properly, you need to listen to the whole thing from start to finish while reading the lyrics. Then you will realize why some sounds, some notes are here and there in the song.”
The Uncompromising Artisan Spirit
To accurately capture this raw vision, the band kept much of the production in-house. Drummer Menthor took on the role of producer, ensuring the final product kept a vital, raw edge that connects their recorded sound with their legendary live ferocity. “We wanted to capture that intensity on the record,” Nornagest notes, acknowledging a past disconnect between their studio albums and their powerful stage presence. They used vintage gear, including a London-sourced drum kit, to achieve an authentic, human sound.
This focus on authenticity extends to the album’s visuals, which clearly reject the use of generative AI. For Nornagest, true art is an expression of human emotion, effort, and imperfection. “The thing is, to me, art is the expression of human feelings and emotions. It reflects your flaws and your qualities, your vision, your imagination. Everything is a soul on paper, a canvas, a screen, or thrown into your ears. You know, that’s art,” he states passionately.
“Now, when you have a machine putting images together, where’s the feeling in it? Where’s the effort? Where’s the sweat, the work, the fashion that’s on there? It’s artificial.” The cover art by Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal masterfully captures the album’s mythos through traditional ink work.
An Unyielding Declaration
Ashspawn is a deliberate and crafted ritual, a declaration of will that questions the essence of modern black metal. It stands as a mark of 30 years of refinement, a work that requires engagement and provides catharsis in return. The band refuses to compromise in its sound, art, and spiritual core. With Ashspawn, Enthroned reaffirm their place as black metal’s vital vanguard.
Band photos by Emanuela Giurano
