siLLy puPPy ENSHROUDED is a newer band formed in 2015 in Castro Valley, CA. Starting out as a black metal band, the members decided that they played better death metal but in the process of switching over kept some of the blackened elements.

This band has only released this sole EP so far titled SANCTUM OF THE SHADOWS and it features five tracks that stretch past the 35 minute mark so in reality long enough to be considered an album’s worth of material. The first three tracks all hover around the 8 minute mark and the title track races past 10.

Death metal indeed with rampaging guitar riffs, tight blitzkrieg drum and bass and guttural growls set back a bit beneath the mix. ENSHROUDED also adds a bit of slowed down doom metal making them sound a bit like early Incantation or Immolation but has a more jittery out-of-tune sound that makes everything sound more muddy and evil.

The musicians are all top notch and have obviously been honing their craft for years and although the band doesn’t exactly sound like the next best thing in the originality department, neither do they really sound like any other band completely. There is a controlled sloppiness effect that actually works quite well with the lo-fi production approach here.

No info on musicians on board or any other info but ENSHROUDED is certainly capable of joining the big boyz’ club of death metal if they continue on this trajectory. The tracks are all nicely arranged and exist somewhere between “Demigod” era Behemoth and the more modern sounds of another Bay Area death metal band - Necrot. Overall a pretty great start for this East Bay band that has done its death metal homework quite well.