As I thought that this wicked creation had disbanded a few years ago, I was struck by surprise when I got their newly built church in my hands. The cover is great and I must admit that I was curious about the band’s development from the day I remember them, namely as decent Black Metal from the Finnish lakes. So, hearing such great tracks as the opener ‘Tartan’, the one with the superb introductional intensity ‘The Imperfect Vision’ and not to forget the live-monster ‘Chalk Face’, makes me think that this is a an album that holds a necessary quality. The latter has one of the better choruses in Black Metal ever. You simply cannot avoid the firsts in the air during all those “hey hey hey hey” repetitions. In ‘The Imperfect Vision’ Enochian Crescent’s vocalist is hysterical and borders to insanity when he asks “who are you?”. The back-up vocals add to the wicked atmosphere as they sound quite nice, and creates a somewhat beauty-and-the-beast feeling. Great. But the album wouldn’t sound as strong, despite the great tracks and all those finetuned riffs, if the production had failed. On “Black Church” every instrument has its place and it’s very easy to notice what’s going on. This can of course be a drawback if the music is boring, but in this Finnish riffing monster the music is varied and interesting throughout the whole album. It’s like you discover a new dark place in their church as you take a walk into their church. And they have even managed to hide certain elements in places you normally wouldn’t search. In ‘Tridents Clash’ there’re some strange sounds, from 10 to 23 seconds, sounding like some African drums, that reveals themselves only if you pay necessary attention (in headphones?). But as a whole Enochian Crescent’s “Black Church” is a Black Metal fist in your face. And they end their album with a dark title track that allows you to understand what Enochian Crescent is all about. It’s riffing dark Black Metal, with an own identity. What more can you ask for? Perhaps, if I shall be picky, a more twisted sound, being dirtier and more suitable for underground Black Metal. But, is Enochian Crescent underground? With some luck they should actually get some well deserved success, because their music deserves it being original and entertained, yet being darker than your average Black Metal combo.