(written by Islander)
In February Eternal Death will release the fifth album by the New England black metal band Malacath, which began as the solo project of multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Lykos but has been a two-piece of Lykos and drummer Hiraeth for most of Malacath‘s discography. (Both members have been involved in many other bands, including their collaboration in Angel Morgue.)
The new album, Eternal Roar of the Thunder and Rain, brings us four substantial songs ranging in length from 10 minutes to more than 16, followed by a relatively brief acoustic closer (“Eleusis”). What we have for you today is the premiere of one of the long ones, an astonishing epic named “A Hymn for the Harvest.”
In a nutshell, “A Hymn for the Harvest” does merit the overused term “epic.” It creates a changing experience that ebbs and flows but has a broad arc that ascends, moving from moods of gloom and pain through lonely reflection and into something like splendor. In its emotional qualities, it could be interpreted as a tale of travail, of failure, of endurance, and of strength and survival.
But if that’s the nutshell, when you crack open the nut, what’s inside expands into a musical world that will seem to swallow you up, with more and more facets revealed as the minutes pass.
In its opening movement, a solo guitar writhes and debrides. Warped and wailing, it’s both wounded and wounding in the way it sounds. As it extrudes its suffering, towering chords arise and heave, looming and groaning, backed by equally momentous drums and fronted by ragged screams of scalding torment. The combined effect is majestically depressive.
As this world expands, jagged and jolting riffs turn up the heat, and then the riffing frantically boils as the drum-beats crack the whip. A solo guitar soars and sears above a beleaguered march, unfurling a banner of wondrous misery.
The music suddenly softens, as slowly strummed and rippling acoustic notes seem to muse in front of martial snare tattoos, a beguiling and contemplative experience. Yet the sizzling riffage re-emerges and flows in distressing waves, paving the way toward a swirling guitar solo that’s a piece of sonic sorcery.
For a time the music offers no consolation, but seems to grieve, and the shattering screams never pull back from their tortured intensity. But then another fantastic solo comes in around the bend, like some kindred spirit to the bluesy psychedelic rock of the ’70s (as this writer hears it), and the way it elevates the song into a feeling of fierce resilience is augmented by chord-fanfares that jolt and sound grand, a magnificent heart-in-your-throat ending to a magnificent song.
Eternal Death will release Eternal Roar… on CD, and digitally. It’s available for pre-order now.
Below we’re also including another one of the astonishing long songs, “Call of the Spectre“, which reveals still more of the album’s many musical dimensions and should not be missed.
PRE-ORDER:
https://eternaldeath.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-roar-of-the-thunder-and-rain
https://eternaldeath.storenvy.com/
MALACATH:
https://malacath.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/MalacathNH
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