Ilat Mahru - Ilat Mahru

Labels: Death Prayer Records

Formats: Tape/Digital

Release Date: 03 Feb 2023

Tracklist:

1. Engorging Sacred Twilight Venom

2. Mystic Possessor

3. Relentless Tolling Across A Thousand Leagues

4. To Yearn, To Suffer

The mysterious black metal debut release from Egypt's Ilat Mahru is my muse this evening. Published both as a limited tape pressing and digitally via UK black metal label Death Prayer Records in February of last year, it was the first time this solo-project had been cast into the ears of eager, underground seeking black metal maniacs. This only came to my attention in early February of this year and while a good few months have passed since (and a new EP has dropped), I wanted to retrace steps and start at the beginning.

Death Prayer Records have been unearthing and releasing some truly top notch black metal over recent years. Ilat Mahru are indeed another great find as is proven by this self-titled debut demo. Opener ‘Engorging Sacred Twilight Venom’ is filled with raw black metal, ambience and gracious amounts of feedback. The vocals and indeed the melodies are buried deep beneath those previously mentioned elements, yet they still get chance to breath and alter the sound of the song (even if they’re overpowered by the intense percussion).

One thing that is for certain on Ilat Mahru is that there’s no skimping on playing time, as each of the four songs surpass well over six minutes. ‘Mystic Possessor’ ratchets up the urgency a little bit, though it still gives the perception of changing tempos even when it really isn’t doing so. That’s the beauty of being able to concoct truly atmospheric music in my opinion. Musicians can make a song sound expansive and/or slow, without it actually being so. Ilat Mahru does that here perfectly.

This demo is so engrossing that I haven’t even noticed how bloody humid this evening has become. It’s apt because the next song is called ‘Relentless Tolling Across A Thousand Leagues’. It does nothing to cool the temperature, thought it’s delivered in such a way that it freezes even the warmest of hearts. There’s something intrinsically avant-garde about it too, but I wouldn’t get too hung on that.

Demo closer ‘To Yearn, To Suffer’ is very instrumentally heavy, as was the opener. The vocals are still present but again they’re shrouded at times. I’m not saying that they should be given prominence over the instrumentation but I know that some purists like that to be the case. Whatever your preference, Ilat Mahru makes something so abject sound so fulfilling without losing any integrity.

As with all music genres, how it sounds and how it makes you feel is subjective. The term black metal has become stretched and (sometimes) misused in recent years. It definitely applies to Ilat Mahru. Hopefully, we can all agree on that.

You can stream and purchase this demo digitally via Death Prayer Records below:-

Tape copies are sold out.

Ilat Mahru - https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ilat_Mahru/

Death Prayer Records - https://www.facebook.com/deathprayerrecords