LIFE ... AND ALL IT ENTAILS

I was unaware of Enochian Theory until only recently. I am planning to see them supporting Tesseract on their current UK tour. The album "Life... And All It Entails" was released on March 12th 2012 and was praised by, amongst others, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) who commented on the production and craftsmanship of the song writing. The band features Sam Street on Drums/Percussion, Ben Harris-Hayes on Guitar/Vocals and Shaun Rayment on Bass Guitar. Accompaniment is provided by 'The Lost Orchestra' on Pianos, Synthesisers, Extra Sounds and Orchestral Performance.

The album opens with 'This Aching Isolation' which is a fabulous track, with echoes of latter-day Marillion and Fates Warning. The song is anthemic and accompanied by superb vocals from Ben Harris-Hayes. The next song 'Hz' opens with a throbbing oscillator backdrop and builds nicely with guitar layered on top. The second half of the song features some nice 'less-is-more' guitar and orchestral swathes. It sounded a bit like Coheed and Cambria in places, which is not to detract from the originality the band possesses, I'm just trying to give waypoints. 'Non Sum Qualis Eram' opens with melancholic piano phrases, and then features distorted vocals with an atmospheric, almost nightmarish tone. It's hard to make out the lyrics, except for the 'I'm not what I once was' line. Intriguing stuff. The next track 'Distances' builds nicely, and is notable for some particularly good drumming from Sam Street. The band shot a music video for the next track 'Inversions'. It features "The Lost Orchestra" visually for the first time and was released for internet viewing in May 2012. It is a great track and one of the strongest on the whole album. 'Creatio Ex Nihilio' sounds like an intercepted distress radio transmission.... from the future. I found it quite disconcerting actually. Next up is 'In Times of Silence' - it builds slowly and is another very good track in my opinion. 'For Your Glory, Great Deceiver' opens sounding very like Opeth pre-Ghost Reveries. The vocals initially have a restrained death-metal growl and then later, clean vocals. I like this song very much. 'Nisi Credideritis, Non Intelligetes' is similar in feel to the opening track, it could almost be a 'Pt.Two'. 'The Motives of the Machine' interestingly features the American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist Gloria Steinem and her memorable 'Address to the women of America' at the beginning. Near the end it has George Bush's 'State of the Union Address' from January 1992. Not many albums feature feminists and Republican Presidents. Don't let that put you off. This album is worth a listen and then another, and another...