Hecate Enthroned are one of the most important bands in the history of UK black metal, yet they exist on the periphery, whether that be literally (as residents on the border of England and Wales), culturally (you don’t see many people wearing their t-shirt), or musically (their name does not appear in the Terrorizer Album of the Year lists between 1996 and 2016). The lazy thing is to class them as contemporaries of Akercocke and understudies to Cradle of Filth and celebrate that they’re still here like some obscure artist that can trigger the nostalgist in you. Enough. Stop that. Let’s assess album number seven on its merits.
A tremendous gut-wrenching roar from Joe Stamps opens ‘Spirits Stir Within Our Ancestors Tombs’ as if trying to break the record for the longest scream on a metal album, Christ, this is how to devastate the listener in a hurricane of extreme symphonic black metal. Can you feel your fingers curling up in murderous delight? The drums are as powerful as a JCB road drill; the guitars loud enough not to drop out of the mix despite the force of the former. And who wouldn’t want to be the keyboardist in this band slamming down on the orchestral hits with both hands? We’d all be thrilled if Emperor returned to the recording studio and sounded as energised and as furious as this.
‘The Arcane Golem’ sees the duo of Nigel Dennan and Andy Milnes work their axes like My Dying Bride in their golden Like Gods of the Sun era. The most impressive thing here is how Hecate Enthroned can raise you through the octaves without going through a key change. Surely, this is what we mean when we assign terms such as “transcendent” to black metal’s atmospheric power. Shades of sorrow ache underneath the inhumane aggression like the grief of a vengeful prince destined to win back his father’s kingdom. Thick palm-muted rhythms alternate with fast tremolo picking as Stamps moves from malevolent beast to lonely wanderer. Melody is important to Hecate Enthroned, but not to the detriment of their extreme audio manoeuvring. They grace the intro to ‘Steed of the Still Water’ with beautiful passages of folk guitar before launching into a keyboard-heavy detonation. Those enthralled by the new Dimmu Borgir record should make a note of this release.
The only criticism is how the guitars imitate vacuum cleaners when the blast beats and symphonic keyboards lock in and keep them out. It becomes even harder to hear them with Joe Stamps using his head voice to make the screaming techniques soar higher than their natural level. But you’ll soon forget these flaws when you hear the darkwave brilliance of ‘Pwca’ work through strummed guitars and hyper reverberated female vocals. Observe how Pete White’s sorrowful piano sequence holds it all together like a mourner who holds back his tears in public. By contrast, it’s impossible to resist the typhoon in ‘Deathless in the Dryad Glade’. This is what it must feel like when you’re the lead engineer on the first line of defence against a crumbling gravity dam. Here, the expenditure of energy is remarkable.
Like all essential black metal, ‘The Boreal Monastery’ leaves you in a permanent state of agitation that knows no boundaries between pain and ecstasy. The band’s willingness to explore calmer dynamics might be sporadic, but it works wonders and prepares you for the final charge of ‘Into a Vale of Endless Snow’. As a closing track, it pulsates with a malice absent from many of the compositions here, and there are no problems hearing the guitars throb in the mix either. It’s a song that can absorb the pain and spare others in the process.
The burden of life is toilsome, yet Hecate Enthroned can help you overcome these tribulations if you trust that the external forces will uproot you but take you to a better place.
Kirk Houghton
Verdict
Release Date: 29/05/2026
Record Label: M-Theory Audio
Standout tracks: Spirits Stir Within Our Ancestors Tombs; Pwca; Into a Vale of Endless Snow
Suggested Further Listening: Necronautical – Slain in Spirit (2021), Journey into Darkness – Infinite Universe Infinite Death (2021), Agathodaimon – The Seven (2022)