BAND OF THE WEEK: Enshroudment

A debut EP of abject, despondent misery. Yay!

Contrary to what might seem, no, the band of the week feature isn’t exclusive to bands from the UK, though this is the third one in three installments so far. What can I say, maybe the impending kicking of the floppy haired blonde turd to the curb is inspiring people over there? Whatever it is, at least it’s been geographically diverse - we went to Wales for Made Of Teeth’s face-melting sludgepunk, then over to London (via Poland) last week for Obiat’s inspiring psychedelic twists, and now we’re going all the way up to the North East of England, specifically Durham, where drummer/vocalist Kat Shevil Gillham (Thronehammer, Nine Altars, Lucifer’s Chalice, Uncoffined, Winds Of Genocide - yeah, she keeps busy), with whom we talked, is based, for some properly miserable, hopeless, funereal, almost suicidal old school doom/death, like they almost don’t do it anymore. Well, Enshroudment do, and just a glimpse at their logo (no band photos yet, sorry!), noose and all, will really begin to tell you what they’re all about. I mean, check this out:

The “excuse” for having them on the feature is the recent release of their debut EP, ‘As The Light Is Extinguished‘, a massive twenty-minute slab made of just three tracks of some truly ugly and bleak doom, raw and uncompromising. It’s not even a new release as such, as these tracks have been left to rot for a few years after having been recorded way back in 2017 already. It was only on June 6th this year that the festering process was put to a rest, when Good Mourning Records finally put the thing out of its misery. The press release that we got with the promo doesn’t fuck around - early Anathema, My Dying Bride, Morgion, Mourning Beloveth, Evoken and Thergothon are shamelessly thrown about as clear influences, and to be honest we wouldn’t argue with a single one of them, nor keep on using more words to describe what is essentially simple music, heavy, extreme, straightforward, and squarely aimed at the grave. Kat herself would agree, as you can read on the short interview below.

Could you tell us a bit more about the origins of Enshroudment? Though this is EP is your first release, the band – and these songs – have been around for a little while, right?
Kat: Well, the idea initially came about around 2014/2015, when I started thinking about doing a band like the old early-mid 90s doom/death days and in the style of the classic Peaceville bands/era like early Anathema, My Dying Bride and such, as well as taking influences from Mourning Beloveth, Morgion, Evoken, Thergothon and so on. So myself and Charlie (Enshroudment guitarist, and also guitarist/vocalist in Lucifer's Chalice and guitarist in Nine Altars, my latest traditional/epic doom metal band) started talking about it. We got Daniel Alderson from Horrified onboard, and he quickly came up with material, we started rehearsing regularly from 2016 onwards with a guy called Lee Higgins on bass to round out the line-up. We were rehearsing the three tracks that ended up on ‘As The Light Is Extinguished’, and started tracking it in November 2017, although only the drums and vocals were fully tracked during that session with the aid of guide guitars. The band went dormant for a few years due to various reasons, and then in May 2021 we got back together to finish tracking guitars and bass, and the EP was finally finished in the summer of 2021 with Daniel handling mixing and mastering too.

The press release that came with the promo of the EP is very clear when it comes to influences – early Anathema, My Dying Bride, Morgion, Mourning Beloveth, Evoken, Thergothon. You did mention them as influences, but was this the sort of sound you already had in mind, with this kind of clarity, when you put the band together?
Kat: Yeah, we had a clear idea of how the band should sound was in place from the get go, we had a very clear vision of how we wanted the songs to sound. So far the response to the tracks has been great with many people commenting how early/mid-90s it sounds, so we achieved our goal! 

Ever since these tracks were written, has the band had any kind of activity, do you have more material written or something like that? What can we expect after this EP?
Kat: We finished up the recordings last summer and three new tracks are already completed instrumentally, we plan to start rehearsing again late September focusing on getting the new material tight for recording. I have some new song title ideas so I will sit down over the coming months and write new lyrics. The new material carries on in the same vein as the debut EP but it is a step up in terms of songwriting, I'd say.  The plan is to do another EP and then see what happens, maybe a full-length will follow after that? Time shall tell... 

Just like in Uncoffined, you combine your two usual posts that you have in your bands, drummer and vocalist – how is it doing both things, especially if you play live and actually have to do them at once?
Kat: We have only played one Enshroudment live show so far, in Newcastle back in October 2017, where I handled both drums and vocals. I am very comfortable doing both live as I have been doing so since the first ever Uncoffined live show in January 2013. I got so used to doing both drums and all vocals live, although it has been a while since I last did it as Uncoffined haven't rehearsed for a while now. 

These three tracks are particularly miserable – how far did you have to dredge your own emotions and stuff up  to reach this point? Is any of this “personal” for you (all art is personal, of course, etc, but you know what I mean!)
Kat: I just wanted to write some of the most miserable despondent bleak lyrics I could and definitely thought of some very depressive things when writing the lyrics like losing loved ones etc, I have quite a vivid imagination so just let the dark recesses of my mind run wild abit and the result is pure grief filled doomed misery.

You and Charlie have been in several projects together, how is your musical chemistry with him?
Kat: Awesome we work together very well musically, he is an integral part of both the other bands we play in together, Lucifer's Chalice and Nine Altars. I have known him for 9 years now, hes a very passionate musician and person just as I am. We get on so well on different levels. 

It’s been great seeing you return to activity, being on stage with Thronehammer and everything. Which of your bands do you suppose will take more of your time and dedication in the next few months?
Kat: Thanks! Well, Thronehammer is going to be touring again in October, out in Germany, and shortly after that we will play Hammer Of Doom Festival in Würzburg. From November on, latest, I should be starting to track the vocals for the third Thronehammer album, ‘Kingslayer’, which is fully written. I already have a lot of vocal line ideas down and most of the lyrics are written for it, so Thronehammer will definitely be taking up a lot of my time in the autumn/winter, but there will be activity with my other bands too, including Enshroudment.

Find Enshroudment on Facebook and Bandcamp.