Band:	Enid
Album:	Gradwanderer
Style:	Symphonic metal
Release date:	March 2004

01. Chimera
02. An Ode To The Forlorn
03. Silent Stage
04. Gradwanderer
05. Die Seelensteine
06. When The Last Glow Flies
07. Exemption
08. The Burning Of The Sea
09. Herbststurm

My friendship with Avant-gardism came a little late to say it so, bands like Arcturus, Solefald and Borknagar just passed by as I was immerse in other styles and sub-genres.
So, it came the day that I decided to give an opportunity to Avant-Garde Metal, and it rocked my world. But even if I liked it, I always approach very carefully to a genre that as the name hints is very innovative, and always changing.

That is the case here with Germany's Enid, and their new album that I could classify as Avant-Garde Metal (although the genre is not my specialty)? if anyone feels that Enid is definitively not Avant-gardish, give me your best shot in the comment part.

Anyway, labeling apart, Enid used to be a pretty generic Black Metal band, that liked to experiment with Folk and Medieval music, seems that little by little those influences took over their music, and the Black Metal influences were taken away, so if you're expecting some Black Metal in here, go away, because you'll find zero, zip, nihil, nada.

But I'll tell you what you'll find, 9 songs, each one totally different than the other, and each one with different influences and inspirations, the result, everything but a boring album.
Things start with "Chimera" the more "normal" song in the album, the excellent vocals of Martin Wiese shine among the keyboards and the backing vocals, in "An Ode To The Forlorn" the band starts to experiment with the moods, a recurrent element in the album, also mentionable is the percussion in the "ambience" part of the song, reminded me of Vangelis in "1492".

"Silent Stage" is a warmer, soft ballad, composed mainly of piano & voice, creating a beautiful and captivating piece, title track is next, "Gradwanderer" plays with keyboards at first, then things get heavy, nice use of double bass pedals and some blast beats, some reminders of their Black Metal past I think. This song is also one of the 3 that are sung totally in their native language, German.

"Die Seelensteine" is a 15 minute epic piece, that to be honest, was pretty boring, my advice, stick to the shorter songs guys. "When The Last Glow Flies" has this catchy keyboard intro, reminder of some eighties hits.
One of the surprises of this album was "The Burning Of The Sea" a blues song made in Metal! This is totally innovative! A classic blues song with double bass, some good riffs, keyboards, and some scat singing! Blues Metal was invented by Enid!

As I said before, you can say whatever you want about this album, except that is boring and lacks innovation. I admit it, sometimes lacks more aggression in it, more Metal, but is the way the band made it. Maybe Enid is not so "Metal" anymore, but sure is damn good, anyone in the mood of something different, try this one, it may blow you away.