RAVENWOODS - "Enfeebling the Throne" - Reviews

http://www.flightofpegasus.gr/heavy_metal/

RAVEN WOODS – “Enfeebling The Throne” (Code 666)
ravenwoods

Δεν είναι σίγουρο αν θυμάται κανείς το “…And Emotions Are Spilled” που κυκλοφόρησε πριν από πέντε χρόνια, το συγκρότημα πάντως από την Άγκυρα διεκδικεί την προσοχή σας ξανά με το νέο, δεύτερο άλμπουμ του. Με υλικό που στοχεύει στο κοινό των Melechesh και των Behemoth, αποδεικνύει ότι δεν κάνει κάτι λάθος και ότι οι προθέσεις του είναι οι καλύτερες δυνατές. Το κουιντέτο διαθέτει τη δυναμική να τραβήξει την προσοχή, το παίξιμό του αυτό αποδεικνύει, και επιχειρεί να διαφοροποιηθεί εντάσσοντας στη μουσική του νύξεις από την παράδοση της Ανατολίας. Αυτό είναι ένα θετικό σημείο του χαρακτήρα τους, αλλά για να γίνει πιο διακριτό θα μπορούσαν να αναμείξουν περισσότερα τέτοια στοιχεία, χωρίς να τα εμφανίζουν αποσπασματικά. Πρόκειται για υλικό που στα χέρια ενός ικανού παραγωγού θα κέρδιζε τις εντυπώσεις. Έντιμη η δουλειά του σχήματος, φανερώνει πως με τις κατάλληλες κινήσεις μπορεί να σας απασχολήσει εντονότερα.
 
http://www.ragherrie.com/2011/02/ravenwoods-enfeebling-the-throne/

88/100

In 1998 begon het Turkse Ravenwoods als een melodic death metalband en brachten de mcd In Silent Agony in 2002 uit. Later sloegen ze nieuwe wegen in en veranderden hun geluid in een meer donker death metal geluid. Twee jaar terug vonden ze onderdak bij het Italiaanse label code666 en brengen onder hun vleugels binnenkort Enfeebling the Throne uit.
Goed, een heel verhaal met een hoop informatie. Opmerkelijk blijft natuurlijk dat Ravenwoods uit Turkije komt en aangezien de Turkse metal scene niet bepaald groot is, ik noem een Almora en een Pentagram en dan houd het op, is dit in dat opzicht bijzonder te noemen. De muziek is op het eerste gehoor doorsnee death metal maar wel goed uitgevoerd. Superzwaar drumwerk en gitaarspel en de grunts zijn zeer krachtig, met windkracht tien in je gezicht geschreeuwd. Moddervet! In de muziek zelf zit weinig eigens maar regelmatig vloeit het agressieve geluid over in een prachtig Turkse rustige sfeer waarbij we typisch Turkse gitaren horen en bijbehorende percussie dat iets mystieks heeft. De plaat heeft een intelligente structuur waar sferische intermezzo’s in verweven zitten waardoor het op die momenten wat weg heeft van de tussenstukjes die Nile veel gebruikt alleen is het Egyptische thema verandert in een Turks thema.
Vanaf het nummer Stay beginnen de nummers wat meer progressief te klinken en zitten wat complexer in elkaar. De drums zijn gevarieerder, het tempo ligt iets lager en hierdoor krijgt de band meer een eigen geluid. Dit maakt afsluiter Azab-I Mukaddes helemaal waar. Een akoestische afsluiter met collaboratie van Turkse DJ Mercan Dede. Rugrilling-opwekkende fluiten waarbij ik de grote zandvlakte en mand met slang al voor mij zie. Adembenemend mooi, vernieuwend en een fijne manier om een agressief album af te sluiten.
Enfeebling the Throne is een interessant werkje geworden. Het is een mengeling van een unieke Midden-Oosten-sound en harde death. Het is geen plaat die je even vluchtig doorneemt want je moet er even de tijd voor nemen maar als je dat dan uiteindelijk doet zul je de geniale elementen ontdekken die er verstopt zitten in dit werk. Uw kebabboer kan behalve kebab dus ook nog een stevige pot kwaliteits metal maken. I’m impressed.
Label: code666


Tracklist:
01. Zâhir & Bâtin
02. Enfeebling The Throne
03. Breathless Sola
ce
04. Ecstasy Through Carnage
05. Torture Palace
06. Upheaven – Subterranean
07. Inward Massacre
08. Stay
09. The Grey Cold Shade
10. The Fading Trace
11. Azab-I Mukaddes
 
http://www.wingsofdeath.net/content/36,12298/Ravenwoods - Enfeebling the Throne

Hoewel het Turkse Ravenwoods al sinds 1998 actief is, is de band tot nu toe niet te betrappen geweest op een bovenmatige productiviteit. De eerste schreden op het muzikale pad waren nog van symfonische black metal aard, zoals op de debuut EP In Silent Agony. Tegenwoordig legt de band zich toe op een modernere death/black metal variant. De eerste volledige cd ...And Emotions Are Spilled (2006) liet al horen dat Ravenwoods buiten het geijkte genre zoekende was. Ook op de binnenkort te verschijnen opvolger Enfeebling The Throne zal blijken dat de band behoorlijk met zijn tijd meegaat en niet vies is van invloeden uit het moderne metalen landschap. Extreme heavy metal bands uit Turkije ken ik sowieso verder niet, dus ik ben ook wel benieuwd of de muziek eventueel invloeden bevat die herkenbaar uit die regio komen.

Na een sfeervol en toonzettend intro vliegt het titelnummer ongeremd uit de startblokken. Een uitbarsting van harde death metal, met snel en zwaar drumwerk, een krachtige grunt en gierende gitaarriffs die zijn uitwerking niet mist. De uitvoering is niet zo zeer bijzonder, wel moddervet en kneiterhard, hier kun je toch niet rustig achterover leunend naar luisteren. De black metal roots van Ravenwoods zijn eigenlijk zo goed als helemaal verdwenen, of het zou 'm in bepaalde drumritmes of gitaarriffs moeten zitten die soms nog wel aan black metal gelinkt zouden kunnen worden. Sommige nummers gaan zo fel van start, bijvoorbeeld Ecstacy Through Carnage, dat het die kant op lijkt te gaan, maar al gauw wordt dan het brute death metal stramien weer opgepakt.

De Oosterse invloeden beperken zich tot subtiele passages, zoals bijvoorbeeld het einde van Breathless Solace met zijn typische gitaarstukje. Ook sommige drumritmes lijken enigszins af te wijken van wat we standaard in de extreme metal sector gewend zijn. Met het nummer Stay wordt dan behoorlijk gas terug genomen voor een welkome adempauze. Nog steeds heavy maar lekker traag, inclusief subtiele intermezzo's en zelfs cleane zang. Hier laat Ravenwoods zeker horen dat ze meer kunnen dan alleen maar beuken en krijgt de muziek ook voor een stukje een wat meer eigen gezicht. De band lijkt hoe dan ook het beste voor het laatst bewaard te hebben, want ook The Grey Cold Shade en The Fading Trace kennen hun afwisselende momenten, inclusief de al eerder genoemde afwijkende ritmes en subtiele Oosterse invloeden. Zowel qua percussie als akoestisch gitaarwerk komt Ravenwoods hier verrassend voor de dag.

Als slagroom op de taart sluit Enfeebling The Throne af met een folkloristisch muziekstukje. Met behulp van de in Turkije zeer bekende traditionele muzikant Mercan Dede laat Ravenwoods zijn ware roots horen. Azab-I Mukaddes bevat muziek van de lokale instrumenten Ney (een soort fluit) en Bendir (een percussie instrument), met een typisch Oosterse track als gevolg. Zeker geen metal dus! Een gewaagde maar zeer fraaie manier om zo'n brute cd mee af te sluiten. Alles bij elkaar is Enfeebling The Throne een zeer goed genietbare cd geworden, met zeker naar het einde toe een interessante mix van brute metal met Turkse verfijning.
 
http://metal.pl/temprecenzja.php?id=245

Mieszanka death i black metalu nie tylko nie jest niczym nowym ale w zasadzie ciężko znaleźć równie wyeksploatowane połączenie hałaśliwych dźwięków. Ilość kapel, które właśnie ten mariaż obrały sobie za wyznacznik swojej muzycznej drogi jest przytłaczająca, jak więc wybić się w tej masie, zwrócić na siebie uwagę słuchacza? Naturalnie oryginalnością, świeżymi pomysłami, wysokim poziomem muzycznym, lub też skandalami czy też szeroko pojmowaną otoczką.

Na szczęście turecki Ravenwoods zdecydował się na szukanie własnego stylu i kombinowanie w warstwie muzycznej, objawia się to łączeniem hałasu z wpływami zakorzenionymi gdzieś w środkowo-wschodniej tradycji. Może to przypominać nieco dokonania Melechesh. Przykładem takich działań jest chociażby utwór „Torture Palace” opatrzony ciekawymi partiami gitary akustycznej. Z kolei w chwilach gdy panowie jadą na metalową modłę doszukać się można w ich graniu wpływów Behemoth.

Nie sposób ukryć, że „Enfeebling The Throne” to płyta utrzymana na poziomie co najwyżej średnim, teoretycznie wszystko tutaj gra i buczy równo, bez zgrzytów. Niewiele to jednak pomaga w ogólnym obrazie, który pozbawiony jest tej „iskry”, tudzież „ikry”, która wyróżnia dzieła wybitne. Trzeba Turkom oddać dbałość o różnorodność, słychać, że starają się kombinować i nie zanudzać słuchacza, na dowód tego zaatakują czasami ciekawszymi i dość chwytliwymi riffami, nie zapominając jednocześnie o różnicowaniu wokali („Upheaven-Subterranean”).

Doczepić mógłbym się do brzmienia, które także nie powala ale i nie pozwala na zbytnie marudzenie. Zawszę z sympatią witam w metalu egzotycznie brzmiące wpływy zakorzenione w tradycjach folkowych, w przypadku Ravenwoods jest podobnie. Cały szkopuł tkwi w tym, że to połączenie kruszy kości tylko w wypadku gdy równie mocne pozostają obydwa jego składniki. W muzyce Turków metalowy rdzeń jest jednak słabszy.
 
http://www.metalteamuk.net/jan11reviews/cdreviews-ravenwoods.htm

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Turkey’s Ravenwoods seem to be having something of an identity crisis. Their moniker brings to mind some obscure, second-wave Scandinavian black metal band, and a quick glance at their bio does indeed reveal them to have raw BM origins, but new album ‘Enfeebling the Throne’ is an exercise in slick and pummelling melodic death metal with neither a wintery blizzard nor frosty grimace in sight.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The album does frequently encroach on blackened-death territory however: the title track kicks in with raw, tumbling riffs in the vein of more recent Marduk, but this is mixed up with tight, clinical death-grind sound of Coldworker, complete with dense, fill-heavy drumming and taut, barked growls. There’s a definite Nile influence lurking in there too, with the ADHD-inflicted riffing and blasting complemented by some delirious melodic soloing and sudden forays into lethargic, mid-tempo crawls. [/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]The opening track sets expectations pretty high, presenting an impressive level of technicality along with a considerable sonic punch, but most of the remaining tracks tend to blend into one another and quickly start to feel formulaic and over familiar. ‘Breathless Solace’ employs bouncy Behemoth riffs, crunchy breakdowns and sharp, Middle-Eastern-sounding melodies that are to be a central staple throughout much of the album, and though professionally executed it nevertheless starts to feel a little vanilla, with nothing really new to grab the attention. ‘Ecstasy Through Carnage’ employs a tried and tested chugging bass riff, sporadic bursts of relentless galloping drums and some electrified melodic charges that remind of old Dark Funeral, whilst both ‘Torture Palace’ and ‘Upheaval Subterranean’ mix passages of warm acoustics and tribal drums alongside merciless bulldozer-riffs and mechanical monotone hammering, but although this is all perfectly enjoyable again nothing particularly stands out.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]As if aware of my rapidly waning attention, the album throws in a sudden curveball seven tracks in on ‘Inward Massacre’, which shifts suddenly midway through from BM-tinged melodic bludgeoning to a languid and brooding doom riff that makes it sound like Mourning Beloveth just wandered into the studio by mistake and started jamming. It sounds very cut-and-paste but the sudden change of pace works surprisingly well, and leads into another unexpected turn in the form of the cheesily titled ‘Stay’, which is a mash-up of Swallow The Sun-style pop-doom, fleeting glimpses of latter-day Katatonia and slick Swedish melodic DM, marred only by some slightly weak crooned vocals.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Following track ‘The Grey Cold Shade’ goes off in yet another direction, offering up erratic bursts of dirgey riffs and sporadic drumming that all sound incredibly Opeth-like, crowned by jagged Gothenburg riffs in the At the Gates vein. The Gothenburg influences are even stronger on ‘The Fading Trace’, which welds stripped-down grooves of (old) The Haunted to some epic, beautifully flowing riffs that evoke classic Dissection, and make it damn-near impossible to actually stay sitting in a chair long enough to finish this sentence.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]And then, with my interest suddenly and unexpectedly piqued, the album fades away into Karl Sanders-style acoustic outro territory. Bugger.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]‘Enfeebling The Throne’ makes for a pretty frustrating listen, all in all. It starts off well enough, mixing abrasive BM, clinical grind and tech-DM elements together in a convincing and enjoyable way, but then seems to nod off midway through and slide into formulaic blackened-DM that falls between the two stools. Then halfway thought it suddenly jolts back out of this bout of narcolepsy and tries to make up for lost time, hurling doom, thrash, and gothic elements around in the closing minutes as if desperate to show off its myriad talents before the clock runs out. What’s most surprising is that most of these wild stabs across genres actually work, revealing a talented band with a knack for writing strong hooks and compelling arrangements when it suits them. If Ravenwoods could only decide what they actually want to sound like, then they might just be able to pull off something rather special.[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]http://www.myspace.com/ravenwoods
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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1] Ross Taylor [/SIZE][/FONT]
 
http://www.alonemusic.it/section.php?article=1904&section=recensioni

9/10 !!! :headbang::headbang:

Lode e gloria ai Turchi! Se avete già sentito Enfeebling the Throne, potete capire cosa intendo. E se non lo avete ancora fatto, fate in modo di porre rimedio a questa tremenda mancanza.
Non posso che aprire fin da subito questa recensione con una nota di pieno entusiasmo. Il secondo release dei Ravenwoods è assolutamente magnifico. Non solo per la sapiente produzione, che sa valorizzare al meglio ogni singolo elemento di cui si compone il sound del combo turco; non solo per lo spiccato gusto per il songwriting ed il corposo growl che si fa interprete di questi 11 pezzi, lasciando un breve spazio soltanto in "Stay" ad un altrettanto valido pulito; non solo per il calibrato ricorso a intermezzi costruiti su gradevolissime melodie orientaleggianti (ad esempio, gli outro di "Breathless Solace" e di "Azab-I Mukaddes" ed il ponte di "Torture Palace"), ma anche, e soprattutto, per il notevole "gasamento" che questi pezzi sanno regalare. Un "gasamento" alla Behemoth, per intenderci.
Il suono dei Ravenwoods si caratterizza infatti per lo spiccato ricorso al death più spinto, con non molta melodia (ma quella che c'è è davvero elogiabile: pulita, senza sbavature) e una sezione ritmica che non si risparmia e che martella ossessivamente i timpani dell'ascoltatore. Manca invece l'impronta black che mi era stata promessa nella presentazione della band al momento della scelta da catalogo, ma poco importa. Quello che conta è che i Ravenwoods stiano lavorando davvero bene e che da questo accorto lavoro sia nato un album degno di lode ("kick-ass", per citare il mio professore di inglese) come Enfeebling the Throne. Assolutamente da ascoltare!
 
http://www.metalmusicarchives.com/enfeebling-the-throne--review.aspx?id=235818

"Enfeebling the Throne" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Turkish death metal act Ravenwoods. The album will be released in April 2011 by code666.

Ravenwoods started their career as a black metal band but have moved closer to death metal with each new release. "Enfeebling the Throne" features a good slap of blackened death metal, strongly influenced by Behemoth but with the unique feature that there are occassional acoustic mediterranean folk music sections in the music. The last track on the album "Azab-I Mukaddes" is solely in this style. That part of the band´s style is only a spice though and mostly the songs are just very effective blackened death metal tracks.

The musicianship is strong and the production professional and well sounding. Personally I think the latter could have been a bit more raw and unpolished to great effect, but fans of more polished death metal productions should enjoy this one greatly.

...so "Enfeebling the Throne" isn´t an album that stuns me with its original sound or creative ideas, but the songs are well composed and the delivery convincing and all in all this is a very professional product. They should think about shedding the sometimes too obvious Behemoth influence somewhere along the way though. Somewhere between a 3 and a 3.5 star rating is deserved.

3,5/5
 
http://www.zwaremetalen.com/recensie/18252/Raven-Woods-Enfeebling-the-Throne.html

Raven Woords is een Turkse death metal-band die in 2006 zijn debuut uitbracht en positieve commentaren ontving. Geen technische overdaad hier maar een evenwicht tussen melodie en agressie.
Op Enfeebling the Throne gaat het er nog steviger aan toe dan voorheen. Qua agressie komt het stilaan op het niveau Impious, afgezien van de veel melodischer aanpak dan. Turkije heeft het voordeel (net als Egypte) van een bepaalde klankkleur en een breed instrumentarium te beschikken, waarvan Raven Woods dankbaar gebruik maakt. Bij fans van Nile en Behemoth doet het zeker een belletje rinkelen. Raven Woods stelt deze melodieën echter veel centraler dan die andere bands en laat ze zelfs de basis zijn van enkele nummers. Dat leidt ook tot herkenbare nummers die niet drijven op ongebrijdelde wilddoenerij maar een structuur kennen, uitgewerkt met in de eerste plaats veel thrash en aansluitend ook death en black metal. Hiermee volgen ze veeleer het voorbeeld van hun Griekse collega's dan hun Amerikaanse. Op het einde van de plaat gaat het zelfs de emotionele kant op met Stay en The Grey Cold Shade en toont Raven Woods dat ze niet voor één gat te vangen zijn.
Geslaagde plaat voor liefhebbers van melodieuze "extreme" metal met een zwoele bijklank. Wie niet per se kickt op brutal en aggressief materiaal kan dit hoog in zijn lijst zetten. Ik hou het vooralsnog nog bij "aangename plaat".

Bart Alfvoet
Score: 81/100
 
http://www.metal.de/cdreviews.php4?was=review&id=16528

Seit nunmehr elf Jahren treiben RAVEN WOODS bereits ihr musikalisches Unwesen in der Türkei und haben sich in ihrem Heimatland auch bereits Rang und Namen erspielt, der internationale Erfolg blieb jedoch bisher aus. Das soll sich jetzt aber ändern, fünf Jahre nach ihrem Debüt “And Emotions Are Spilled...” melden sich die fünf Musiker aus Ankara zurück und präsentieren, unterstützt von ihrem neuen Label code666, ihr Zweitwerk “Enfeebling The Throne”.

Stilistisch sind sich RAVEN WOODS weitesgehend treu geblieben: Noch immer kredenzen die Türken eine brutale Mischung aus Black und Death Metal, gespickt mit einigen folkloristischen Elementen ihrer Heimat. Dennoch knüpft das Quintett nicht direkt dort an, wo es beim letzten Album aufgehört hat, die Türken haben sich enorm entwickelt, wirken gereifter und professioneller, ihre Kompositionen durchdachter, komplexer und moderner. Geschickt kombinieren RAVEN WOODS straightes, nach vorn peitschendes, düsteres Riffing mit zarten akustischen Passagen, die Titel sind spannend und abwechslungsreich arrangiert, die folklorisitschen Elemente werden passend in den sonst sehr brachialen Sound der Band integriert und rücken dabei nie stark in den Vordergrund, wie beispielsweise bei ORPHANED LAND, an die ich mich beim Anblick des Logos von RAVEN WOODS sofort erinnert fühlte. Auch Sänger Kaan Koyuncu, dessen Vocals mir auf dem Vorgängeralbum einfach zu gleichförmig erschienen und somit schnell zum Störfaktor der Musik wurden, hat ordentlich dazu gelernt, wechselt gekonnt zwischen Screams und überwiegend Growls, agiert ausdrucksstark, aggressiv und stört die Kompositionen nun keineswegs mehr.

Doch so positiv das bisher auch klingen mag und so hoch diese deutliche Entwicklung der Band auch anzurechnen ist, “Enfeebling The Throne” ist meiner Meinung nach dennoch nur gehobenes Mittelmaß. Einzig die folkloristischen Elemente geben den Songs RAVEN WOODS' einen Wiedererkennungswert, ansonsten wollen sich die Türken einfach nicht aus der breiten Masse abheben, was auch daran liegt, dass das Quintett einfach keine Hits schreiben kann. “Enfeebling The Throne” plätschert die meiste Zeit so an einem vorbei und auch wenn es gut gemacht ist, mag einfach keine Melodie bleibenden Eindruck hinterlassen oder dazu animieren, das Album wieder aufzulegen.
 
http://metalzone.gr/reviews.php?action=details&id=2245&lang=en

75%

NEW ALBUM FROM TURKEY
-Raven Woods- is a band from Turkey that plays a mix of Death and Black Metal since 1999. This band has already released one EP and one full length album. This time they are here with their second full length album that will be released via Code666 Records.
The title of the new album is -Enfeebling The Throne- and it’s a great album that mixes Death and Black perfectly and using a lot of Anatolian harmonies. Nice guitar riffs, great leads, great bass, excellent drumming and great Death Metal vocals. The band uses also a lot of classical guitars in intros and outros and you can hear clean vocals and even female vocals in the album. The production is very nice and so is the cover of the album.
-Raven Woods- are here to mix Anatolian rhythms with Blackened Death Metal. They call it Anatolian Metal and this album shows that they are here to stay. Great ideas, nice songs full of interesting changes and passages and great production. A great release form Turkey.

Efkarpos
 
ROCK TRIBUNE MAGAZINE

Ravenwoods
Enfeebling The Throne
Code 666
Anatolië vormt een vrij groot stuk van Turkije, maar ondanks de seculiere aard van dit moslimland is het toch niet meteen een regio waar metal hoogtij viert. Toch blijkt men ook daar niet ongevoelig te zijn voor het genre, want Ravenwoods werd al in 1998 opgericht in hoofdtad Ankara en knokt sindsdien onverdroten aan zijn weg opwaarts. Hun debuut ‘And Emotions Are Spilled…’ verscheen alweer vijf jaar geleden en was hier omzeggens niet te verkrijgen, maar bij cultlabel Code 666 hebben ze een voorkeur voor bands uit ongewone regio’s en haalde men hen binnen om eindelijk een vervolg uit te brengen. ‘Enfeebling The Throne’ is voor de meeste van ons dus een eerste kennismaking met Ravenwoods en het moet gezegd: dit is dik in orde. Hun stadsgenoten van The Sarcophagus deden het al niet slecht, maar Ravenwoods staat toch een stapje verder in de evolutie. Na een hels intro slaan tien songs je keihard om de oren met een furieuze mix van misantrope black en death metal. Zoals ze zelf ook al aanhalen, ligt hun sound nog het dichtste bij die van Behemoth en daar is niks mis mee. De referentie naar Melechesh ligt enigszins voor de hand, gezien Ravenwoods evenzeer uit het Midden-Oosten afkomstig is, maar toch zijn de verschillen tussen beide bands enorm. In een nummer als ‘Torture Palace’ of ‘Upheaven – Subterranean’ worden dan wel typisch Midden-Oosterse arrangementen verwerkt die uit het Soefisme komen, maar dat gegeven krijgt nergens de overhand. Her en der zit er wel eens een gitaarharmonie in een song die naar Oosterse muziek verwijst, doch dit krijgt zeker geen even groot aandeel als bij Melechesh. Geen probleem, want dan zou Ravenwoods toch maar tot een kopie verworden zijn. Nu zwemmen ze in hun eigen vijver en dat is wel mooi meegenomen. De enige uitzondering is wellicht de atmosferische afsluiter ‘Azab-I Mukkades’, een knap werkstukje met traditionele instrumenten en klassieke gitaren waarin de in Turkije beroemde Soefi-muzikant Mercan Dede een belangrijke rol speelt. Kortom, zeker eens proberen als je wel een pittige brok blackened death lust.
Morbid Geert


83/100
 
http://www.metalreviews.com/reviews/detail.php3?id=7028

87/100 !!!

Ravenwoods, from Turkey, play straightforward music but do so rather well. This is their second album but they are new to me, having apparently started life as a proper unfriendly black metal act before gravitating towards the more mainstream blackened-death proposition they are today. And Enfeebling the Throne is a triumph of hard-riffing metal wizardry that ought really to win the band some new fans.

The first obvious comparison is Melechesh- a lazy one based partly on vaguely-Middle Eastern location, sure, but also fairly appropriate in terms of sound. The band have the highly polished assault of Emissaries, slickly firing out fast and energetic blackened death salvos, generously interspersed with glowering interludes of Eastern ambiance. This means that you would really struggle to call this an original album, though the riffs come so thick and fast, and are often so electrifying, that they get away with it. It doesn’t hurt that they also have a penchant for heavy, Behemoth-like grooves, and consummate thrash professionalism reminiscent of The Haunted, both of which give this a thuggish weight and massive headbanging appeal that may well take them places. The musicianship is superb, particularly the drumming, which is often explosive.

Indeed, there are a striking number of top-notch extreme metal tunes on here, and my job can only be to list some of the highpoints. The title track is a screeching tirade of ultra-tight blastbeats and riffs like twisted steel, climaxing in a screaming lead solo. Upheaven-Subterranean is a riotously fast thrasher with flailingly techy overtones, which then detours evocatively into a shower of airy Eastern strings and percussion. Inward Massacre mixes thrillingly contorted guitar patterns with slowed-down melodic grooves, and closer The Fading Trace ends the album by delving into marvellously sour-faced black metal blasting. Ravenwoods even demonstrates its sensitive side with Stay, a tribute to a deceased friend of the band, which hews a bellowingly emotive power ballad out of this gleaming metallic hulk.

Having spent several months now concentrating on the weirder realms of the underground black metal scene, I’m surprised to be getting this worked up about what (by extreme metal standards) has such a mainstream sound. This should really be competing with acts like The Haunted or Arch Enemy, so immediate are its riffs and so hooky its, er, hooks. The band certainly deserves a wider audience, and Enfeebling the Throne has the potential to bring them to one.
 
[FONT=&quot]RAVEN WOODS
“Enfeebling The Throne” (2011)
9/10
Raven Woods’la yaklaşık 10 sene önce, henüz genç bi ekip oldukları dönemde kaydettikleri bir şarkı sayesinde tanışmıştım. O şarkıyı bana dinletip “olm bak süper grup, hastası olacaksın” diyen adam daha sonraları Raven Woods’da vokal görevini üstlenecek olan Aybars’dan başkası değildi. Topluluğun söz ettiğim albümden önce yayınladığı “In Silent Agony” adlı muazzam bir EP’si vardır ki açık söyleyim, grubun ilk full-lenght albümü “…And Emotions Are Spilled”dan daha çok severdim bu EP’yi. Ta ki ikinci albümleri “Enfeebling The Throne”u dinleyene kadar…
Bugüne dek izlediği Black Metal’e yakın, karanlığı bayrak edinmiş kimliğinden ödün vermeksizin Behemoth’vari, hatta yer yer At The Gates’i selamlayan bir sentezle kezzap keskinliğinde bir albüm hazırlamış Raven Woods. Yeni vokal Kaan’ın gruba uyumu ve vokal performansı görülmeye değer. Aralara serpiştirdikleri hafif ortadoğu, hafif Karl Sanders atraksiyonlarla, bu tarz albümlerin genel dezavantajı olan albümün baştan sona beyinde matkap etkisi yapıp dinleyiciyi yorması olayını başarıyla çözerlerken enteresan bir orijinallik de yakalamışlar. Albümün sonunda yer alan ‘Azab-ı Mukaddes’de üstat Mercan Dede eşliğinde zirve yapmış bu orijinallik. Önceki albümün açılış parçası ‘Inward Massacre’ı bu albümde yeniden kaydetmişler ki yeni hali çok daha lezzetli. Extreme Metal sahnesine “şu grupta şu eksiklik olmasa keşke” diye düşündüğüm her açığı kapatmış bu albüm. O açıdan şahsi favorilerim arasında çoktan girdi. Prodüksiyonu çok başarılı, orijinallik ayarı çok iyi verilmiş, tadını kaçırıp Orphaned Land kabusuna dalmamışlar mesela. Kasıntıdan uzak pırıl pırıl iş yapmış adamlar.
Bu arada, geçen yıllarda saçma bi şekilde kaybettiğimiz Ankara metal camiasının güzel insanlarından Duskhunter Evren’e ithaf edilmiş bir şarkı da var albümde. Kendisini tanıyanlar eminim öte taraftan duyulması için albümü dinlerken sesini açacaklardır.
Yıllara yollara direnen Raven Woods, şahane hareketler, sinsice serzenişler, pis atraksiyonlar ve karanlık intizarlarla cehennemden bile duyulacak güzellikte bir albüm hazırlamış. 2011 Extreme Top Ten listelerinin belalısı olma potansiyeline fazlasıyla sahip.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Selim Varışlı-Siyah Beyaz E-zine - TR[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]Editor[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]RAVEN WOODS
“Enfeebling The Throne” (2011)
9/10[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I got to know Raven Woods about 10 years ago when they recorded a single and they had a young line-up. Aybars, the guy who introduced that song to me and told “hey dude,this band is awesome, you will go crazy for it” had become the vocalist of the band after some time. I used to like their awesome EP “In Silent Agony” more than their first album “…And Emotions Are Spilled” until I listened to second album “Enfeebling The Throne”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Raven Woods prepared an album which is Behemoth-like and sometimes they even hail At The Gates with a mixture of Black Metal touch. Harmony and performance of new vocalist Kaan is remarkable. The middle-eastern melodies and Karl Sanders-ish partitions which are performed in some parts of the songs are adding more originality to album..The last song of the album ‘Azab-ı Mukaddes’ is a top originality with the attendance of virtuoso Mercan Dede. The new version of “Inward Massacre” -which was the opening song of previous album - is even better in this one. This album has no negative things in it that I can think in an extreme metal album. Thus, it has already become one of my personal favorites. Very successful production, originality is well-balanced, and for example there is no Orpahend Land nightmare in it. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There is also one song made for the Ankara Metal Scene’s old person “Duskhunter” Evren who died in an unfortunate way. People who know him will open the volume even more while listening to this song that Evren can hear it from the other side.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Raven Woods prepared such a great album that has the potential to destroy the Extreme Metal Top Ten lists of 2011.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Selim Varışlı-Siyah Beyaz E-zine - TR[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]Editor[/FONT]​
[FONT=&quot]http://www.myspace.com/siyahbeyazonline[/FONT]
 
LEGACY MAGAZINE (printed - germany)

RAVEN WOODS „Enfeebling The Throne“
(Aural)
Die türkische Band RAVEN WOODS ist hierzulande noch recht unbekannt, obwohl die Gruppe bereits vor mittlerweile 13 Jahren gegründet wurde und nach einigen Besetzungs- und Stilwechseln nun das zweite Album namens „Enfeebling The Throne“ vorlegt.
Ganz heimatbewusst wird der schwarzmetallisch angehauchte Death Metal der Türken mit heimatlich-folkigen Klängen untermalt, ähnlich wie dies auch Melechesh oder Orphaned Land in ihrer Musik zelebrieren. An der Produktion dieses Scheibchens gibt es nichts auszusetzen, jedes einzelne Element wird perfekt in Szene gesetzt, und auch die Band bzw. die Songs klingen insgesamt sehr reif. Echte Ohrwürmer, packende Melodien oder Eindruck hinterlassende Passagen sucht man auf dem Werk trotz eines viel versprechenden Intros jedoch vergebens, der Großteil von „Enfeebling The Throne“ plätschert vor sich hin und größtenteils am Hörer vorbei. Auffallend sind lediglich die orientalischen Passagen innerhalb der Stücke bzw. das rein instrumentale Stück ‚Azab-I Mukaddes’, die das Mystische an den Tracks und die Herkunft der Band offenbare. Ab und an tritt auch mal eine brauchbare Melodie ans Tageslicht, diese Bestandteile können jedoch nicht über die leider recht deutlichen Defizite von RAVEN WOODS hinweghelfen. Der Gesang von Kaan Koyuncu ist sehr gleichförmig und hält sich beinahe ständig in growligen Gebieten auf, der klare Gesang bei ‚Stay’ fällt ein wenig aus dem Rahmen, passt aber zu dem Stück. Echte Fehler machen die Türken auf ihrem Zweitling nicht, jedoch müssen RAVEN WOODS noch deutlich am Songwriting arbeiten, damit sie vielleicht irgendwann in derselben Liga wie die Großen des Genres mitspielen können und sich so etwas wie eine Identität erschaffen. Hörbar ist „Enfeebling The Throne“ jedoch allemal und sollte jedem Fan des Genres mit Faible für folkige, fremdländische Klänge gefallen. (WHO)
9 Punkte
 
heavy metal haven

http://metaltube.freeforums.org/reviews-for-raven-woods-enfeebling-the-throne-t1767.html

Enfeebling the Throne is the second full-length album by Turkish death metal band Raven Woods. The band’s sound mixes death metal with some black metal influence to create a blackened death metal record that doesn’t sound too far off from what bands such as Behemoth deliver. The album has a somewhat different line-up to the band’s previous offering, ...and Emotions Are Spilled (released in 2006), with only guitarist Cihan Engin and bassist Ozan Yildirim (who was actually the drummer on the previous album) remaining. Since I am not personally familiar with the band’s previous work I will unfortunately not be unable to say how well Enfeebling the Throne compares to it.

Enfeebling the Throne starts off with an intro track, Zâhir&Bâtin, which unfortunately I feel inclined to discard as one of those intro tracks that feels completely useless within the context of the entire record. It adds nothing to it and impact of the first proper song, which is the title track, would not be affected in any way by the intro’s absence. Fortunately the title track quickly makes me forget the useless intro as it’s a pretty solid track and definitely one of the best on the album. Songs like this one show that Raven Woods are very capable of making blackened death metal with the best of them.

Unfortunately the album as a whole comes across as something of a mixed bad as the next two songs, Breathless Solace and Ecstacy Through Carnage actually pass me by without being able find anything truly noteworthy about them. They’re not bad certainly, but there is nothing here that makes me sit up and pay attention in case I miss anything, because the sound is predictable and formulated.

A surprise then when Torture Palace kicks in a throws a spanner in the works. Here the band introduce much emphasis on instrumental work with some good acoustic work that clearly takes some influence from Turkish folk music (heard even more in the following track, Upheaven-Subterranean) and some backing female vocals in parts of the song, without losing the blackened death metal feel of the previous songs. This, Upheaven-Subterranean and later track The Grey Cold Shade give Raven Woods a bit more uniqueness to their sound and I find myself wishing that they’d incorporate more of the folksy acoustic work into their music. That may be in part to my being very much into folk metal but it’s also in part that the blacked death metal parts of Enfeebling the Throne don’t come across as anything that hasn’t been done before. Again that’s not to say it’s bad, because it’s not, far from it in fact, but as a whole Enfeebling the Throne does seem to lack some sort of spark to get it out of ‘good’ territory into ‘great’ territory. The band is clearly a group of skilled musicians but I can’t help feeling that if they really honed those folk influences and incorporated them into the overall sound a bit better they’d be a much stronger unit because of it.

They still manage to pull a few surprises out of the hat though, such as some clean vocals in the song Stay (Dedicated to Evren'Duskhunter, R.I.P.), which also has guitar parts that sound closer to melodic death metal than blackened death, something heard in several of the later tracks on the album, such as The Fading Trace.

The final track on the album is Azab-I Mukaddes, which is something of an outro piece done entirely in the Turkish folk style that we’ve heard briefly before. It’s a nice ending to the album, but again, I’d definitely have liked to have heard more of the style included throughout the whole package.

Overall Enfeebling the Throne is a quite enjoyable release from Raven Woods and despite the faults I found with it I do recommend this album and the band, because I think they’ve got potential to deliver something truly exceptional in the future. This time they haven’t come together quite as well as I’d have liked, because throughout I found myself really wishing I could like this album more than I do. Nevertheless it’s very far from being a bad album and you could do much worse than to give Raven Woods a listen.

7/10
 

[FONT=&quot]from ROCK DAYS MAGAZINE[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]SCORE: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]92/100
[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]
RAVEN WOODS! After five years of a break they have done a marvellous comeback!

First I should say that the vocal change in the band is very apparent. As you know the old vocalist Aybars Altay left the band and he was replaced by Kaan Koyuncu whom we know from Kasatura. Of course it would be wrong to call it bad, there are pretty good songs but the old style of the band marks its place.

Guitars and the drums are more [/FONT][FONT=&quot]better[/FONT][FONT=&quot]than[/FONT][FONT=&quot] the other albums. As for the cover of the album, it is the best RAVEN WOODS album cover ever!

Shortly, we face an album that simply [/FONT][FONT=&quot]KILLS!

Onur Can Erdem-Editor
Rock Days - Rock&Metal Portal TR
[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]www.rockdays.net[/FONT][/FONT]
 
http://deathmetalbaboon.com/album-review-ravenwoods-enfeebling-the-throne
SCORE : 8.5/10

Artist: Ravenwoods (Turkey)
Album: Enfeebling the Throne (2011)
Genre: Oriental Black Metal

Since we reviewed the superb debut album of the Belgian Black Metal band Saille, we got our name put on the promotion list of the band’s label, Code666. It’s a sublabel of Aural Music and specializes in cult-heavy Metal. That means stuff that’s fackin’ weird, but also highly original and usually extremely entertaining if you let it be.

[FONT=&quot]So now we get sent promo packages a lot, whenever the label is about to release a new album of one of its bands. They release more than we can keep up with, but we do try to check everything out and we’ll at least write about the stuff that’s particularly good. The stuff you shouldn’t miss.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Turkey’s Ravenwoods has its second album over the course of its twelve year existence lined up for release next week, on April 1st. Obviously we’ve already heard it![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]First a bit about the band though. It formed in 1998, first with a Melodic Black Metal focus, in the city of Ankara. They suffered from the usual problems with line-up changes for a while, until then-bass player Ozan switched to drums – there was a drummer shortage – and they began work on their first proper release. I can’t check, but apparently “this album is still considered as one of the best albums ever in the Turkish Metal scene”.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]In any case, the album got them the attention of Code666, and a multi-record deal was signed. Enfeebling the Throne is to be the first.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Both on their debut album and on Enfeebling the Throne, Ravenwoods have invited a dude named Mercan Dede to help out. The guy’s a “Ney artist” and he operates it in “Sufi music”. No clue what that is, I presume? Neither did I, but Wikipedia claims a Ney is some sort of flute and Sufi is some sort of Islamic music, I’m sure you can picture an image of it in your mind.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]For people from the Middle-East and, North Africa, Afghanistan and even as far as Indonesia it may be more, to me it sounds like oriental fuckin’ music, though I would’ve believed it to be Greek as well. I’m a Sufi-illiterate. What I can tell ya is that it’s a great fuckin’ combination; face-pounding, gut-slicing Metal with the mythical tunes of the orient to paint out the details.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Enfeebling the Throne features eleven tracks and 41 minutes of the stuff, in various degrees of loudness. There’s a suspense-building intro that seems to be taken straight from the movie Scorpion King or something. It’s short enough to not get annoying, yet long enough to make tremolo-picked and blast-beat ear assault that makes up the start of the follow-up track, the title track, all the more vicious and frightening.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]There is more of this relentless violence on the record, but thankfully Ravenwoods has a good understanding of variation and why an album needs it. There are enough tempo and mood changes to keep the record interesting, instead of a mindless, head-numbing constant attack. There are calm chunks of pure Sufi and pictures of scorching desert heat race through my mind. The oriental setting also returns in lead guitar pieces, and even riffs, throughout the album and it provides for a strong sense of consistency on the album.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Though mostly heavily Black Metal inspired, there are songs that exhibit strong flavors of Melodic – but still fuckin’ heavy – Death Metal and even hints of Thrash. Once again proof of understanding of the necessity of variation and of quality musicianship. Riffs tend to be fast though, and the connection to despairing Black Metal is never far away, unless you get rescued by a piece of Sufi of course, or the piece of Spanish guitar on Torture Palace.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Point is that although this stuff can get quite harsh for many people, it does give you enough air to breathe in regular intervals. I for one appreciate this, and not only that, but also the fact that a preceding calmness makes the succeeding violence all the more intense. Simple trick but it works. In fact, it’s pretty much essential if you don’t want to numb your listeners down too much.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]As always, we want to give you a taste of what we’re rambling on about. Unfortunately we found diddley squat on YouTube, and so we decided to upload something ourselves. There’s the risk it’ll be taken down, but we fuckin’ swear: all we mean to do is promote a great album and stimulate people to buy it! We more or less randomly picked a song for you; all we paid attention to was for it to contain both some relentless Black Metal bashing and some breath-taking Sufi. We picked The Grey Cold Shade, which we like a lot![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]The conclusion is already clear I guess, but let’s give it again anyway. This shit’s hot shit! Highly recommended for those with a liking for creative and mythical atmosphere-rich Black Metal! If you find yourself attracted to the likes of Behemoth, Keep of Kalession or Dimmu Borgir to name just a few, this may be a welcome addition to your collection. It may not be as loud or crushing as these, but it’ll definitely make up for that in terms of variation and sophistication.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My Grade: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]8.5/10[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Buy this when: [/FONT]
  • [FONT=&quot]you’re into atmosphere-infused Black Metal[/FONT]
  • [FONT=&quot]you’re into Extreme Sufi[/FONT]
  • [FONT=&quot]you’re in it for quality, not for the killing power of the [/FONT]