Oddly enough, Sweden's Astrophobos are compared to Sweden's Dissection and even though I can see the resemblance, there's not much (at least from this EP) tying them to the Swedish greats. The disc offers up three cuts which do seem to offer a slightly modernized mix of melodic black metal, but not nearly as varied or structured as well as the act they are most compared to. Jonas Ehlin and Martin Andersson certainly have been studying early Dissection, with several similarities in melody but very little in the way of substance. In other words, these guys aren't doing much to really expand upon the formula in any way, shape of form. Sometimes they add groove sections with go rather well with Mikael Broman's scathing rasps, but if you compare the title track with the piece that follows right after it, “Tabula Rasa” you are pretty much listening to the same song. Fortunately things improve quite a bit with “Blood Libation” particularly during it's mid-section in which I'm certainly noticing something spectacular. But it's just not for very long. “The Cadaver Monarch” seems to add some solo sections to the disc along with a greater sense of texture and some unexpected vocal changes/effects from Broman. It's all nice and works fairly well, but there just isn't much about this that floors me. It just feels as though I've heard this sort of thing done before. Now the guys did come out with a full-length in '14 entitled Remnants Of Forgotten Horrors, so you may want to go check that one out in addition to this, just in case you haven't. Though as for Enthroned In Flesh, it is more or less a decent release that doesn't offer anything more than you might have already expected.
(4 Tracks, 20:00)
7/10
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