Enoch

Formed out of the ashes of a previous local live band called MAD, ENOCH was an Ioanninan “atmospheric” Death Metal band, active in the mid-to-late 1990s when they released at minimum two demo tapes entitled “Total Necrosis” (1996) and “Starcradle” (1998). The earliest known lineup (for the “Total Necrosis” sessions) included Michael M. (vocals), Chris Tsiknias (guitars), Wolf (bass) and Kostas Haidos (drums), whereas “Starcradle” also featured a keyboardist in Kostas Tzatsos and a new vocalist in Vasilis “Septic”.

Musically, “Total Necrosis” – released in 200 copies – presents a rather rudimentary form of Death Metal. Dark and doomy –some would say atmospheric. The members have not quite mastered the conventional DM-techniques yet however, so don’t expect any tremolo-based riffs or blast-beats here. Think more along the lines of a teenage Punk Rock band taking a stab at Death Metal. There are good ideas to be found, but this is obviously the product of a young band.

Moving on to “Starcradle”, we can observe that the band has improved their technical skills and also become slightly more accomplished at writing songs. Stylistically, ENOCH has gravitated closer to the melodic spectrum of Death Metal, adding fair amounts of keyboards and clean vocals to the mix. The rhythm guitars display the Heavy Metal-ized and semi-Gothic style common to Greek bands at the time, but are balanced against harscher, almost ASPHYX-sounding riffs. All in all, there’s more going on in the songs and it is possible to spot some pretty decent ideas scattered throughout the six tracks. Still, there is plenty of work to be done before moving on to the full-length or even EP format.

Unfortunately, ENOCH didn’t stick along to further develop their ideas, as the band seems to have folded sometime in the late-1990s.

Compilation appearances: