Some philosophers say there is no such thing as a coincidence; that any coincidence is down to the power or the energy of the universe acting in a certain way to reach a certain point or conclusion. I sit here wondering if it is a coincidence that the first track, “Silence The Earth”, bears such a remarkable resemblance to “Machine”, the 1^st track off THEATRE OF TRAGEDY’S album “Musique”. I know what you’re thinking, THEATRE OF TRAGEDY evolved into a very Electronically orientated band and “Silenced Earth” is described above as Death Dark Metal. But shoot me if the intro to “Musique” (sans the alien space talk) and the chorus is dissimilar to the intro and melodic part somewhere in the middle of “Silence The Earth”.

This is the main thing I will take away from “Silenced Earth” and I don’t mean to imply that it put me off the album or took any points away from my final score, but this is what sets the tone for a very good Dark Metal album. Even though the foundation of this release is Death Metal, the omnipresent keyboard adds a very heavy and oppressive atmosphere to the album that probably has roots in early Black Metal circa CRADLE OF FILTH. It certainly has “a woman’s touch” too as the first seconds of “End It All” will attest to, but it is certainly no wishy-washy Gothic Metal band that injected too much testosterone into their bloodstream. The vocals are mainly growled throughout, not too deep, and the clean voice that relays the growls on this song bears a resemblance to former AMORPHIS vocalist Pasi Koskinen. The guitars at times change tone to a more ethereal style and together with the keyboards can create very vivid soundscapes that define the dark and mournful atmosphere that shrouds the album.

“Silenced Earth” is a very short three track demo/promo that is very well produced and you would be excused for thinking they are signed on at a sizable record label, and their obvious talent and proficiencies speak of a band that is ready to take the next step. The songs are all memorable and no one of the trio can be singled out at as “The best” or “The one to look out for”. ENTHROPE deserve their solid eight out of ten rating for this demo and it will be no coincidence if their next release get's a similar or even better rating.

(Online March 22, 2009)