Akhlys awakens darkness with its fourth album.
Four years after their previous dark offering, the band led by Naas Alcameth (vocals/guitar, Aoratos, Nightbringer), Eoghan (drums, Astraeus, Pile of Priests) and Nox Corvus (guitar, Aoratos, ex-Nightbringer), along with Abraxas Nox (bass, Avgrum, live for Aoratos and Nightbringer) unveil House of the Black Geminus in partnership with Debemur Morti Productions.
The first chills appear as soon as the oppressive keyboards of The Mask of Night-Speaking begin, and they’re strengthened by riffs’ majestic approach, then by the eruption of those blood-curdling screams. The long composition is a real procession into the original chaos, and everything seems to disappear around us as the blast and other bestial screams assault us under the scathing harmonics, and the surge resumes immediately with Maze of Phobetor, which picks up the pace by enclosing us in its curtain of darkness. The composition is shorter than its predecessor, but also more virulent, leaving very little downtime between all the tenebrous waves that sweep us into the depths of dissonance before opening with Through the Abyssal Door, where the heady tones multiply. The instruments merge once again to form a single projection that flares up, slows down and lacerates us once again, before becoming grandiose once more, before finally abandoning us with Black Geminus, a mysterious instrumental interlude with terrifying influences where numerous bruitist volutes seem to be watching us, only waiting for the command of their creators to melt all over us. Sister Silence, Brother Sleep follows with a martial approach to the riffs and a visceral one to the heart-rending vocal parts, but with a touch of melancholy when the chorus is chanted. You can feel the track slowing down with the feedback, but it picks up again in a more ethereal way before setting itself ablaze one last time to lead us to Eye of the Daemon – Daemon I where the sensation of suffocation becomes stronger, more impressive and finally omnipresent, leaving only the screams to escape from the musical torrent the band lets crash down on us, sometimes embellishing it with fascinating leads before finally allowing us to regain consciousness as nothingness overtakes us.
I’ve always been fascinated by Akhlys‘ darkness, and I look forward to each new work as a salvific offering. House of the Black Geminus doesn’t disappoint, and proves once again that the band is capable of pouring out the very essence of chaos through breathtaking compositions.
95/100