Arkheth - Clarity Came With A Cool Summer's Breeze

Labels: I, Voidhanger Records

Formats: Vinyl/CD/Digital

Release Date: 30 See 2022

Tracklist:

1. In The Cradle Of The Crescent Moon

2. Kundalini

3. Psychonautica

4. Neptune Beaches

5. Patience In The Garden Of Fire

6. Where The Ocean Meets The Sky

I've found myself in a rare spot, where I can pick a random release to talk about. This particular release forms part of the ever growing I, Voidhanger Records stable, which is a label that's known for it's love of progressive and avant-garde metal, with bands who constantly up the cover-art level. One such band is Australia's Arkheth. I previously wrote about their 2018 album 12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew. I really enjoyed that album and knowing that they've now found a suitable home for their latest work, I'm excited to hear how they've progressed over the past four years and if that cover is anything to go by, there's gonna be psychedelia aplenty.

I’ve said before that it’s always great to revisit bands that I’ve reviewed before and Arkheth left a really good impression with their previous album. Fast-forward to now and Clarity Came With A Cool Summer’s Breeze promises to be as good, if not better. Album opener ‘In The Cradle Of The Crescent Moon’ is an instrumental that hides Arkheth’s extreme influences behind acoustic guitar, saxophone, clarinet and birdsong. It’s an auspicious start.

‘Kundalini’ follows quickly on with something that’s a little more extreme, but only because it contains guitar riffs. They’re joined by both spoken/whispered and cleanly sung vocals, keyboard tones that sound like a Moog and almost shoegaze-like textures. There’s a lot going on and the creativity levels are very high indeed. Even the electronic flourishes during the song’s mid-section don’t sound out of place. Black metal makes more of an appearance later on, along with some Shining-like black jazz.

There seems to be a growing trend (if you can even call it that!) of bands becoming less extreme, heaviness-wise and Arkheth make their point clearly on ‘Psychoanutica’ (not that they’re following any trends). Part black metal, part cheesy 80’s game show music and part bizarrely beautiful sound collage. If this band ever makes it onto Jools Holland’s Hootenanny, I’ll be bloody happy!

The reason I mentioned Jools Holland is because the brass section of ‘Neptune Beaches’ could easily have come from his rhythm and blues orchestra. It’s that good and underlines just how impressive this album is. I’ve honestly never heard anything like this in the twelve years I’ve been writing about music. Everything flows so well and before you know it you’re listening to the 70’s inspired penultimate song ‘Patience In The Garden Of Fire’. More like a folk, psych, Beatles-esque pop song than anything remotely close to metal, yet it works so well in the context of Arkheth’s music. 

‘Where The Ocean Meets The Sky’ epitomises the musical quality of this album best and it’s the final song of a record that’s over too quickly, It’s very atmospheric and it builds in a gentle way, making full use of every element at Arkheth’s disposal. Led by the band’s sole permanent member Tyrone Kostitch, with additional and no-less significant contributions from Glen Wholohan (alto sax, tenor sax and bass clarinet), Tarquin Halls-Corbett (bass, backing and additional lead vocals, along with added acoustic and electric guitar on track 6), Prophanant (additional lead guitar on track 3) and Hunter McDonald Gerrand Rogers (string orchestration on track 5), it’s unlikely that you’ll find a collective as inspiring as this.

All that’s left now is for you to go on your own journey of musical exploration, starting with this record. It fully justifies why Arkheth should be held in much higher regard and why I, Voidhanger Records should be revered amongst lovers of challenging, stimulating music devoid of traditional labels. Fantastic!

You can stream and purchase Clarity Came With A Cool Summer's Breeze on all formats below:-

Arkheth - https://www.facebook.com/arkheth

I, Voidhanger Records - https://www.facebook.com/i.voidhanger.records

Arkheth - 12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew

Labels: Transcending Obscurity Records

Formats: CD/Digital

Release Date: 20 Feb 2018

Tracklist:

1. Trismegistus

2. Dark Energy Equilibrium

3. Where Nameless Ghouls Weep

4. The Fool Who Persists In His Folly

5. A Place Under The Sun

With the snow falling outside, I felt it was better to stay cocooned in the warm embrace of black metal, though this isn't just any black metal. A glance at the cover art of the third full-length from Australia's Arkheth above should be able to convince you of that. The solo project from Orange, New South Wales released "12 Winter Moons Comes The Witches Brew" last week via growing extreme metal label Transcending Obscurity Records and it's the band's third in fifteen years. This album has garnered a lot of press attention recently but as always I approach in blind, without letting any reviews influence my writing.

It’s fun to delve into an album by a band that you genuinely have no preconceptions about. Arkheth is one such band and “12 Winter Moons…” is one such album. Opener Trismegistus is a rabid mix of both cold black metal and oddly uplifting instrumentation. There’s hints to the band’s earlier symphonic leanings during the opening verse, while the guitar work offers melody and there’s a saxophone adding an extra layer to the music. If Madness were to offer their brass section to an extreme metal band, this is pretty close to how the music would sound (and I mean that in the nicest way possible). The use of samples also helps to heap on atmosphere, which transports the song to another place. 

From the sublime opener, Arkheth moves on to the haunting rock ’n’ roll of Dark Energy Equilibrium. There’s plenty of experimentation with sounds and effects and it creates quite a backdrop. I know that the saxophone has been utilised by black metal bands already (Sigh, the band not the expression!) but here Arkheth uses it to compliment the quieter moments, while the off-kilter craziness is allowed to run free, led by the guitars. The percussion is deep in the mix too but that low-profile actually works better as it sounds more restrained. The weirdness continues on Where Nameless Ghouls Weep, which contains vocals that sound like wolf howls and like a none-to-drugged-up Marilyn Manson. The organ-like keyboard effects only make it stranger too. There are occasions of more straightforward metal in the song, but they are few and far between. That’s alright though as if you’re listening to this, then there’s high chance you’re beyond straightforward metal anyway. 

The Fool Who Persists In His Folly is a strange mix of the downright bizarre and the classical. In fact, I’m past even trying to describe what’s going on. You’ll need to listen to the full record to truly work that out. That’s not a criticism though, more of a nod to just how unique this album is. The album’s final number A Place Under The Sun is initially the restrained song that the album needed. I mean, there’s no way that Arkheth’s experimental madness could have kept pace for another song is there? Well the answer to that is…of course it could! After the song’s first half, which is filled with bleak black metal, Arkheth finishes with a lengthy saxophone led passage that leads into an equally lengthy full instrumental ending. It’s a great way to end to an album that’s completely out of left field yet also very compelling in it’s detail and abstract musicality. May your eyes and ears truly be opened. 

You can stream three of the album's five songs here:-

You can also buy it digitally and on cd from the bandcamp page above.

Arkheth - https://www.facebook.com/arkheth/

Transcending Obscurity Records - https://www.facebook.com/transcendingobscurityrecords/