Pulling no surprises, another intense installment of Symphonic Black Metal plunges into a familiar abyss. Using blast beats as its unrelenting propellant, rattling drums steer an unending wall of sound. Screams howl and distortion guitars roar. Choral keys gleam towards the night sky with an undying sense of rising epic. On occasion, glistening patterns of synths sparkle with astral wonder. The music sways, rarely taking its foot of the gas, predictably finding its way back to calamitous climaxes.
The second of its two twenty minute plus halves is more gratifying. The texture of its ferocity a dangerous concoction. Hopeful lead guitars tinge with shimmers of positive melody yet shrouded by a grim blackness. Its followed by glittery ascending, descending cosmic synths, an interesting arrangement stiring the pot on this frightening brew. After calms and void circling plummets pass by, the lead guitars return to unite the narrative, culminating in a last stand full of dying screams and relentless pounding that gives way to a bleak aftermath of pale distortions.
This track defines itself as the better of two but ultimately feels somewhat stale in the wake of all the other albums before it. Arkhtinn has mastered their own sound but now that mastery offers little new other than the comforts of returning to familiar footings.
Rating: 6/10