When you tell me an album sounds like someone injected brutal death metal straight into the veins of a Castlevania game, you have my full uninterrupted attention.
Appropriately released on Halloween, this keyboard-heavy death metal artifact sounds (and appropriately looks) like standing outside of Dracula’s gargantuan castle with nothing but a dream — and unleashing absolute hell once you’re inside. It’s spooky, intense, and cinematic.
A bonus track edition featuring the 3 tracks from their prior EP, Festering Apparition, was released the following December, adding even more drama to this already immersive record.
In true vampyric fashion, the tracks on Enter: Vampyric Manifestation dance between aggressive bloodshed and orchestral grandeur. It’s like Cradle of Filth if you replaced the corniness with death metal brutality, or if you put the auditory theatrics of Dimmu Borgir and the thick, beefy riffs of Dying Fetus in a blender. It sounds like mixing water and oil, but Pedestal for Leviathan manages to make it work on every track to create something incredibly interesting and uniquely theirs. The production also has the perfect amount of grittiness to it, like watching an old-school horror flick.
This nightmare begins with a gothic synth melody that quickly shapeshifts into a low death metal guitar riff on Chalice Bleeds Intoxicant, emulating the same buttery goodness of “the same riff but slower”, but instead, “the same tune but filthy”. Thunderous drums, muscley guitars, and former sole-member Kendrick Lemke’s demonic growls give the whole album — especially secondary track Summoning Sickness — its leaden weight, and assure this undead fantasy isn’t ever gonna get too romantic. Lycanthropichrist (which I’m pretty sure means “werewolf Jesus”) is blastbeats aplenty and shows a more black metal influence, but doesn’t forget to drop it low. Sanctity of Retribution gets kinda funny at times in a good way, like dirty death metal meets the Goosebumps’ intro song. Someone cue the creepy dog.
Purgatory Displacement gets more serious, and utilizes those ghostly bells and keys substantially well. It has this giant and imposing aura, like a final fight that’s equally exciting as it is terrifying. I can honestly hear it being used as a boss theme, and I can’t help but bob my head. Karmic Recollection Mirror brings in some new-school slam-death elements that you can dance to, and once again I’m amazed that Pedestal for Leviathan has somehow woven spooky keyboards into something like this so seamlessly. Perhaps Lemke is a wizard and not a vampire?
We get a short break from the carnage with a minute-long keyboard interlude Snow Covered Monolith, which while lovely, you can argue it could have been left aside as it doesn’t add much to either of the surrounding tracks. Afterwards we’re thrown right back into the pit with the chaotically catchy Warlock Blacksmith — the closer on the 8-track version.
The bonus track edition offers three more tracks: Siphoning of the Liege, Beast Rune, and Nightshade Familiar. They’re ripped straight from Enter’s prior LP, and you can hear the difference in guitar tone plus the much rawer production right away. To the disappointment of many I’m personally in the “I like to hear the music” boat, so while I can appreciate the instrumentation itself, I’ll take the short and sweet 8-track version.
As a visual artist, I also feel compelled to gush about the album cover for a second. The use of scale is immaculate. The wonky perspective and the contrast between the bright reds in the sky with the jet black castle shadows makes it appear even bigger, and much more daunting. And those extra pops of red scattered around the castle add so much eeriness; at the top it’s windows, but what about the rest? Is it light from the sky? Is it blood? Is it just a cool visual effect that paid off? It’s a mystery that makes the hair on my neck stand up in the best way.
Also I’m gonna go ahead and declare this a pink album, which makes it that much cooler in my book.
In short: this album fucking rules. It’s whimsical as hell and I love how atmospheric and strange it is; you can just hear the passion seeping through it. Had I known about this album in 2025, it would have made my year-end list. Perhaps a revision is due at some point?
Now I’m gonna go listen to Bloody Tears.
For fans of: Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Septicflesh
Favourite tracks: Summoning Sickness, Purgatory Displacement