The Echoes of Death: Enola’s Commit Death

It is a refinement of the sounds they have kept in mind and the urge to roar blasting dark energy.

The Indonesian music scene has been somehow obsessed with the matter of death. Just after covering Majelis Lidah Berduri’s *Hujan Orang Mati, Surabaya-based shoegaze unit, Enola, hits the scene. The band became a talk with their debut [Does Anyone Else](https://fuckoffenola.bandcamp.com/album/does-anyone-else-vinyl-version), offering a genuine passion for shoegaze. When the band say that they go bleak compared to their debut, they aren’t joking. If [Commit Death](https://fuckoffenola.bandcamp.com/album/commit-death) *was a movie, it should’ve displayed a disclaimer noticing that the record might trigger people with mental health issues. The disclaimer is the colossal opening track “Light That Never Goes Out by Mariusz Lewandowski,” spanning for more than 11 minutes, sounding abrasive-but-less-layered guitars of My Bloody Valentine and texturally reverbed vocal of Slowdive. Precisely this track shades how Mariusz Lewandowski’s apocalyptic painting is articulated through the lens of Enola’s typical corroding effects.

The day before, I was jaw-dropped by how Father John Misty has such a gut to put on an over 9-minute opener in *Mahashmashana. My shock did not last long when I revisited an almost-missed record by Enola. Setting an 11-minute opening is a dealbreaker for anyone who hits Commit Death *as their first entry to the band’s discography. The sparsely washed guitar is set glamorously with not-too-long reverbed, reminding you of the gruesome look of an abstract monster who is the ruler in this realm. It is a wave of blood-coated nails sweeping you afloat from the unexplored ocean to the unknown land on which the sustained dark atmospheric-almost-noise becomes the soil of your blotched soul entering a new terrain of dark spiralling fire and brimstone. It feels like you’re the nonchalant Frodo Baggins who is on all fours while being beamed by Sauron’s odious gaze. A bold reference from the album cover.

When they name the title Commit Death, it’s about death, period! Enola tries to convey the theme of a harrowing exploration of the human psyche, a descent into the depths of despair, longing, and self-destruction. Going less intense, “Darak (Vicarious Trauma)” goes into a fathomless and suffocating bottomless pit of despair with a raw and unflinching exploration of mental anguish, where the weight of the world becomes a tangible force, crushing the narrator when saying (“A never-ending cycle of pain and choke”). The ghostly and fading vocal sets the feeling of being trapped in the vortex of pain and suffering despite an irresistible dull impression because of its over-sustained progression and the mundane vocal style.

With its one-minute intro, “Infernal” tests your patient before shining its compelling and disdainful songwriting, especially the inaudible growl-like monstrous sound. The band truly aims at immersing you in their mastery of layering vocals in voicing a haunting exploration of fractured psyche wailing (“Small empty appreciation / Big mistakes with no reflection”) to reflect the despair, self-loathing, and a desperate plea for release. Anyhow, denisa’s vocal in the repeated refrain (“Repent, I’m so far away from home”) serves as a haunting mantra, underscoring a profound sense of spiritual displacement. It puts such calamity closer to Chelsea Wolfe in Converge’s Bloodmoon I. “I Will Never Recover” piles the least sinister atmosphere. It is a self-claimed testament of the narrator — a vessel of profound darkness — who grapples with an overwhelming sense of existential despair. The most melodically melancholic output mixes bright and minor keys concomitantly to be attuned to Azalea’s — a part of Schelper — ghostly feature. The hypnotising and alien-like synth sets the unprocessed feeling of the track as if they’re messing around with a Floydian synthesiser. However, the drumless track craves a longer presentation.

As dark as you might think, Enola shows that love still exists to the minutest of a fractured being. “Lament of Love” and “Lambda (λ)” oscillate between extremes, from the all-consuming darkness of mental illness to the fleeting joys of love and physical intimacy, drawing you into a world of both beauty and despair. Both tracks are groomed with vulnerable and defiant vocals, grappling with existential questions of meaning and purpose. The recurring themes of isolation, loss, and the relentless passage of time are woven throughout the collection. However, “Lambbda” is the extensification of the unexpressed lovelorn in “Lambda (λ),” which glazes a brighter but dismal chord progression piled with a nearly indistinguishable and tiresome vocal.

Despite their conceptual record and musical artistry in blending between time signatures, Commit Death is not as nuanced as “Light That Never Goes out by Mariusz Lewandowski” which successfully steals our attention. A couple of times of listening to the record would be wishy-washy with its long-sustained progression, but the saddening atmosphere created by multi-layered echoes, opaque guitar, dreadful rhythm, and saturated vocals is rock solid. It might be sinful to expect the band to put a crescendo somewhere in the songs, especially when they opened Deafheaven’s performance in Indonesia this July.

Enola just produced a record of ambition and scope that has a deep emotional centre. Ultimately, this collection is a powerful and disturbing work that challenges audiences to confront their darkness. It is a testament to the enduring power of art to explore the depths of the human condition. Commit Death is a surprise to anyone who delves into the devastatingly deep, dark world of Enola, surpassing my expectations of what they might be capable of. It is a refinement of the sounds they have kept in mind and the urge to roar blasting dark energy.

7.4/10

By Qais Indi Purnama

Click here to stream Commit Death by Enola