Enos - Chapter 1 (2010 - 320kbps)

Enos, hailing from the UK, is one of the more fun discoveries that I made last year while running a stoner music page on Facebook. Their sound is a mix of space rock and stoner metal which is an almost seemless blend. The production on their album, "Chapter 1," is beautifully done. Every instrument has it's chance to shine, including vocal work. The band regularly does shows and promotions with comrades from the stoner underground scene in the UK like Dopefight and Funeralhag (also favorites of mine).

Never an easy task to describe the sound of music but, I will say that their music is very laid back. It's still aggressive enough to be in the metal family, but very classic '80s in some guitar riffs and drum beats. Bass' presence is strong, of course, and the distorted second guitar gives spacey sound effects in the background throughout the songs. The distortion isn't as overly done as what enters people's minds when they read the word "space." Very atmospheric and it reminds me personally of some of the effects on the X-Files soundtrack. The vocal work on this album is wonderfully dirty and complements the music well. Should also be noted that some well-timed sound samples play muddled in the background that stay true to this album's theme. Overall, awesome music with a great groove to it.

My favorite track is "Back to Earth" with "Floating" riding on it's heels as a close second. That being said, this album has an interesting theme:

"On Wednesday the 29th of November 1961 at 15:08, after several delays, NASA launched what was to be their final test flight. On board Mercury-Atlas 5 was Enos, a temperamental five year old chimpanzee. This was to be a full dress rehearsal for John Glenn’s historic flight just three months later.

The pressure was on at Cape Canaveral, the US was losing the space race. The Soviet’s had succeeded in getting the first satellite into Earth’s orbit four years earlier, and in the seven months since Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space another Russian, Gherman Titov, had safely returned from orbit.

Questions were being asked about the worth of this increasingly expensive and dangerous obsession with space. If NASA and America were to save face and regain some of the ground they had lost to the Russians nothing could go wrong with this mission. It was with this in mind that they launched the most highly trained chimp in the American Air Force into the history books.

Enos returned to Earth after completing two orbits and travelling 50,892 miles. The whole mission had lasted just 3 hours, 20 minutes and 59 seconds.

On his return Enos was a changed chimp. This once surly and mean spirited chimpanzee apparently jumped for joy, ran excitedly around the deck of the recovery ship and merrily shook the hands of the researchers. Many who met him after his return commented that it was like meeting a different chimp. This is his story . . ."

-Taken from their Facebook page.

This album is available free for download along with a short comic that delves deeper into Enos's story. I won't ruin it for you, it's an intriguing read. One more thing, I love the text on their CD Print:

Unathurised copying, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting of this recording is highly recommended -

They are currently working on their second album so keep an eye out for it! I would also like to thank everyone for their warm welcomes.

Year of Release: 2010
Label: The Internet (aka none)
Genre: Stoner/space metal
Media: Digital
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 320 kbps

Track List:
1. Launch
2. In Space
3. Floating
4. Transform
5. Back To Earth

Download: Enos - Chapter 1
Download Size: 95.5 mb