Band:	Emancer
Album:	The Menace Within
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	May 2005

01. Enter Goddamned CNS
02. Volatile Winter
03. Claustrophobium
04. Pallid Eyes
05. Reclamation Of Merciless January
06. Bloodwhore
07. Disfigured Divinity
08. Enticing Defeat
09. Explicit Repugnance (Of Dying)

Exactly one year ago when I came to review Invisible, the third album of the Norwegian black metal band Emancer, I praised their originality and their stunning evolution and improvement compared to a very dull second album, and also their thirst for avant-garde experiments. One year later, guess what? I could write the exact same thing about The Menace Within. All I said back then is still valid. Emancer definitely found a style they're comfortable with and should not change it for all the wealth of the world.

One thing that needs to be noticed is the effort made on the artwork. The previous two albums had in common the unbelievable ugliness of their covers. On The Menace Within, the cover and the booklet are brilliant. Just as cold, dark and mysterious as needed. These three adjectives can also apply to Emancer's music. Although some songs such as the opener "Enter Goddamned CNS" are quite classical in their blasting/hating/full speed ahead black metal tones, most of the rest is avant-garde enough to grab your interest. The evolution is less evident than between the first two albums, but it is still there. For example, the theatrical vocals have almost all been replaced with 'normal' clean vocals, but these clean vocals are distorted and mixed in a strange way that make them even weirder than before.

I'm talking about avant-garde, but let me reassure conservative black metallers: not all songs are as experimental as "Volatile Winter" which alternates between hypnotic trip-hop and black à la Arcturus. Most of the rest is more in the vein of - still - Arcturus, Emperor, Immortal or sometimes even Limbonic Art (because of the frantic accelerations) but with a very personal touch brought by the discreet yet intelligent and efficient use of electronics, samples and keyboards. Besides, like on the previous album the songs are very complex, Emancer seem to enjoy guiding us then losing us in several directions. I've been quite surprised to find passages that reminded me of the most depressive black doom like Forgotten Tomb and Dolorian just before a clean chorus à la Morgion era Cloaked By Ages? all in one song ("Reclamation Of Merciless January"). "Bloodwhore" after that hesitates between black'n'roll and pure doom with breaks that sound like Katatonia while the closer "Explicit Repugnance (Of Dying)" presents an almost commercial face with its catchy chorus and its soft arrangements?

Kill the song by song review, all you need to know is that every song on The Menace Within has at least one particular feature and that Emancer are not afraid to use progressive, doom, thrash and non metal elements in their music. Plus the production is so good that you don't lose the tiniest arrangement. The result, albeit less surprising than Invisible, is a very mature album of modern Norwegian black, again one of the best "untr00" black metal I've heard this year. This band deserves to be recognized on a wider level, so don't hesitate!

Highlights: Volatile Winter, Pallid Eyes, Reclamation Of Merciless January, Bloodwhore
+ check Enter Goddamned CNS on Metalstorm August Compilation!!