Produced by Arkheth
Released: 2003
Arkheth came from Orange, NSW, formed from the remnants of a previous band called Eternal Dark. They hung around for a short time, released this, played a few minor festivals and then disappeared. Now back in business again, it will be interesting to see if any kind of development in their approach has occured since "Hymns of a Howling Wind".
The minimalist artwork and ambiguous band logo that could be read as Urkhets or any number of other things immediately labels this as a black metal release, and the tracks won’t leave the listener with any other interpretation either. While the production values are rather noteworthy and certainly well beyond what one can normally expect from a debut underground release, Hymns of a Howling Wind is really little more than a young band emulating their heroes without bringing much of themselves to what they’re doing. “Euphoric Gardens of Algaresh” is the standard ambient intro, “Eternal” the typical instrumental closing piece and the five tracks in between really just play it by numbers with multi-layered keyboards, thin, buzzing guitar tones, grim, occasionally shrieky vocals and eloquently contrived song titles.
It isn’t bad by any means, but it’s very far from original, over-stepping the same well-trodden ground that hundreds of others have packed solid. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing in itself, but Arkheth doesn’t really seem to bring any flair or real inspiration to what they do to make them stand out, even a little bit, from the crowd.
- Euphoric Gardens of Algaresh
- Hymn of the Howling Wind
- Parody of the Forgotten
- Winter's Tears
- In Awe of the Night Sky
- Cloud of a Thousand Fires
- Eternal
Rating: 50%
Hail Black Metal!
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