Featuring a quite mesmerising cover painted by one Orryelle Defenestrate-Bascule, this debut promised something a little different if such care had been taken with the music as the cover art. I’m glad to say Heolstor, the musician, has certainly delivered that.

‘A Ka Dua’ begins in a kind of Dead Can Dance circa ‘Spiritchaser’ piece; ritual, shamanic sounding voices and drums wreathed in keyboards build a haunting place. There is something of the animist in the subtle building breath of this which carries into ‘Before The Flames Of The Undefiled Knowledge’. Ominous, ponderous but more respectful, wrapped in awe than evoking fear. The vocals come through with more force now, deep and rich calling out across some sacred space. The sparse melody is suffused with the spirit of Dead Can Dance, early Arcana, a primitiveness perhaps but a refined one. It is easy to allow it to capture you. It has a strong and profound pull and you realise you are in the presence of a serious work. Hypnotic repetition, rhythmic spell casting and….

The riff. ‘Prayer 1’ simply appears. This is the kind of monomaniacal riffing I haven’t hear in an age. It reminds me if a less unhinged, less terrifying R.I.D. or some of the works of Arckanum. The sawing, relentless, undeviating riff with ripped vocals as the ritualistic keyboards and backing sounds remind you that this is still part of the ritual. It is a descend into something bless controlled but no less hypnotic. It spirals down and down into the earth until… ‘Prayer II (Oh Glorious Pan)’ retreats to the drum, the vocal, stepping, dancing into a sombre and nerve tingling, something recalling Endvra in my mind here. Trance like, obsessive and dark.

‘Perdition In The Oneness’ takes us back into the black metal, a dangerous, primitive snarl and snap of a song lurking in the shadows, things trying to push through as the ritual and the chanting continue. Unsummoned things? Perhaps. Or perhaps simply a reminder of what is always out there, the nature that cannot ever be fully restrained.

‘Malediction’ swirls male and female vocals, picked guitar and simple drums to a slow beat. Almost subliminal are the snarls, the half whispers. It has a strange, ethereal sweetness to it that stumbles through discordancy and wraps the presence of Vangelis ‘ ‘Heaven And Hell’ around it.

And finally, ‘A Circle Of Swaying Leaves’ begins with a sound redolent of a church congregation before the riff drowns it. This one holds anger, disregard, passion and that still undeviating sound. A sense of something that will not be denied, cannot be dismissed.

Ritual music with riffs deep in black metal but with layers of Dead Can Dance, Vangelis, Endvra woven skilfully together. This is a fantastic album of thought, emotion and belief. It weaves and draws and summons.

Outstanding.

(9/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/atthealtarofthehornedgod

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/through-doors-of-moonlight