Nothing can stop Mesarthim.
Since 2015, the duo of Australian musicians, one on vocals and the other on instruments who are both members of Left Horn of the Ram, have been releasing albums and EPs very regularly. In 2023, the band released Arrival, their seventh full-length, in collaboration with Avantgarde Music.
The album is made up of eight tracks, the first seven of which are called Arrival, and softness appears first with Arrival, Pt.1, the introduction with its soaring keyboards. But it will be shattered by throbbing Black Metal’s saturation as soon as Arrival, Pt.2 kicks in, always accompanied by airy swirls which lead us to visceral howls haunting the heady rhythm. The two universes’ complementary alliance continues on the virulent Arrival, Pt.3, letting the instrumental run riot in darkness while electronic touches provide this ocean of oppression’s hypnotic elements. The band allows us a slight moment of floating with Arrival, Pt.4 and its steamy tones, but Arrival, Pt.5 quickly takes over, blending driving sounds with this raw basis, recreating the unexpected but strangely addictive universe. Keyboard’s joyful tones will surprise and intensify the contrast with dark riffs, as on Arrival, Pt.6, which combines heaviness and cosmic elements in a relatively energetic approach, always accompanied by the tortured vocal parts. The musicians take advantage of the track’s length to break the rhythm up and place epic leads before letting fury express itself once again, allowing Arrival, Pt.7 to slowly bewitch us with its sublime nebulous layers, followed by Type IV, the last very long track, which first establishes a minimalist atmosphere before letting the different elements take their place again, accentuating once more the band’s natural and inseparable cleavage.
Mesarthim perfectly knows how to make us sink into the limbo of consciousness with their original, spellbinding and contrasting approach. If Arrival is just another album in this rich discography to you, you haven’t grasped all its shades.
85/100