Arpitanian Lands purportedly is an album dedicated to the Enisum native lands originally named “Terre Arpitane” with lyrics and themes surrounding the same. Their second album, Enisum have clearly set out to conquer the atmospheric and post black sensibilities without adding too many bells and whistles. Much like Taake, even when Enisum are taking on loftier melodies, the end result is still inarguably black metal. You wanted some mood music? You got it.
The elements of Enisum's sound are easy to describe, but fail to capture the end effect. Vocals largely favor grim shrieks and howls, but also engage in the occasional clean singing ("The Place Where You Died") as well as incorporating some female leads here and there. Guitars lean heavily on blazing tremolo lines and power chord progressions that despite their simplicity tend to evoke a sense of scope and power. These are broken up with further post-metal elements, namely reverb-heavy, sorrowful picking arrangements. My favorite of these happens to be, in my opinion, the most unique sounding track, "Chiusella's Waters." All of this is backed by some very capable, and at risk of overusing the word, powerful drumming that never seems content on settling on any single pattern.
But again, I don't think any of these words comes close to catching the impact of tracks like "Desperate Souls." While Enisum avoids utilizing some of the more out-there approaches of peers like Panopticon, the result is no less emotive. If I had a seperate rating scale for "feels," Arpitanian Lands may very well rank a 9 or 10 in this respect. It's a delightful fusion of many of my favorite elements from the grim to the gorgeous. It's the type of album I want to put on as I'm getting ready for a rough day, or play in my car as I travel new lanscapes. The soundtrack to pearing over a misty mountain peak onto unmolested nature.
So does it kvlt? Euronymous probably wouldn't catch himself in public listening to this, no. But even so, Enisum get the BM elements that they do choose to us very much right while opting for a different aesthetic. Some black metal wants you to stare into the abyss while others like Arpitanian Lands propose you focus more worship towards the ground you walk upon. Enisum's latest album has been out since November 1st of 2015, and you can listen to the full stream below via Dusktone.