ARKHETH: IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh

Released: 2010

Being familiar with the part of Australia from whence this band hails, it's easy to imagine the motive behind the cold, desolate atmosphere of this massive double album. In the past, they have claimed inspiration from nature so it wouldn't come as much of a surprise to me if I found out that the members of Arkheth had spent the seven winters since their last release camped out in the NSW Central West to gain inspiration. For icy bitterness enshrouds the ten enormous tracks that sprawl across IX & I: The Quintessence of Algaresh, a bleak, frigid ambience that is without a doubt the album's hallmark.

Arkheth's 2003 EP was a fairly standard, non-descript excursion into textbook symphonic metal. While Algaresh still doesn't break any new ground, the band has expanded their vision into a vast, epic near-two hour journey through freezing nightmare lands. Skolthorn's guitar tone evokes a cold malevolence throughout the band's mostly mid-paced, saga-length songs. Keyboard ambience and occasional interludes of female vocals and ringing acoustic guitars only serve to enhance the haunting desolation. This is Arkheth really finding their way, an affirmation of their goals and a far more realised vision of what they wish to achieve and that is cold, uncomfortable, harsh and barren of relief. Tyraenos adds little more than greyness with varying degrees of barks, shrieks and howls and the dour artwork lends further gravitas.

Where the album tends to fall down is the enormous playing time. Algaresh runs to 113 minutes, and in spite of the splashes of variation throughout, Arkheth's main style is mid- to glacial-paced tremolo-picked black metal. To the more casual listener of the style such as myself, it retains a sense of sameness that becomes tedious and at times I found myself asking if these songs needed to be as long as they are: "Chronicles of the Ancient Narwynd" is more than 13 minutes in length and the climactic "Upon the Golden Winds of Dreaming" almost hits the 18 minute mark. Austere does long, repetitive songs too, but their entire album is shorter than disc one of this slab. To be fair to Arkheth, The Quintessence of Algaresh isn't meant to be for everybody. Established fans of such epic bleakness will certainly appreciate and understand it. To newcomers or those less read in the style, IX & I will be heavy going.

Disc One:

1. The Conception and Creation
2. Chronicles of the Ancient Narwynd
3. Kings in Black
4. The Breeze That Stirs the Snow
5. Faint Whisps in the Heart of Orion

Disc Two:

1. Where the Wind Blows Ether
2. Dewy Eve Upon the Eminent Foreland of Arg'thorn
3. The Well ov Urd
4. Black Riders of Avernus
5. Upon the Golden Walls of Dreaming

Rating: 6.8

ARKHETH: Hymns of a Howling Wind

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.

1. Euphoric Gardens of Algaresh
2. Hymn of the Howling Wind
3. Parody of the Forgotten
4. Winter's Tears
5. In Awe of the Night Sky
6. Cloud of a Thousand Fires
7. Eternal

Rating: 50%