(IN STOCK SOON)

Billed as atmospheric black metal, this debut album from Ukrainian one-man act Këkht Aräkh turns out to be a unique and paradoxical creature: at once aggressive and harsh, like any other self-respecting raw BM work that pays its respects to the 1990s-era Norwegian BM classic acts like Dark Throne and Emperor, and to the French Black Legions acts that came later in that decade, yet in parts surprisingly tender and touching, even very delicate. The core raw melodic black metal style is old-school second-wave BM with tetchy crabby vocals, thin hammering biscuit-tin drums and ordinary-sounding guitars - but the ambient effects that embellish this style are from another world entirely: gentle if a little cold and remote, unearthly and ethereal. The lyrics are also notable in their dark romantic Gothic imagery: they are filled with longing and love, even desire, and melancholy and pain. Depending on what listeners bring to their experience hearing out this album the lyrics might even be considered a little vampiric. Lyrics on several tracks certainly are very suggestive of the sensual and unearthly allure of the mysterious beauty that is the subject of the songs on "Night & Love".

Black LP