While this may not be as amusing as I’m making it out to be, I think this album is ahead of the curve. This is not just because it was recorded between 2017 and 2019, but… Drums and guitars were recorded in separate locations in Ireland, while the bass was recorded in Norway, with guest appearances recorded in France, Switzerland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. i.e.: this could have been recoded currently, when no-one is allowed to leave their domicile to actually play together. Especially when you consider the listed 11 guest musicians contributing to the 3 members of KHÔRA, which started out a one-man band by Oleg 8 years ago, before Kranos joined on vocals and Lars joined on bass 4 years ago.
The album opens with the atmospheric sounds of “Aether”, which builds very slowly and gently until it drops into a languished black metal roar over blasting drums and the extremely rapid guitars that is “Noceo”, before it too tapers down to have the bass thumping in the background slowly, and then heads back into the blasting.
Frédéric A. Gervais adds his vocals to “l’Annihilateur”, singing in French with rather melodic clean vocals complementing the screeched rasps, as the guitars fill out the sound with their rolling riffs over the bass, keyboards and drums.
The change to hyper-blasting on “Harvesting Stars” is unexpected owing to the mellowness of the song the rest of the time, as the bass notes pop through the cutting guitar riffs and gentle vocals.
The psychedelic bass on “De Vetus Ad Novum” rumbles behind the choppy guitar riffs as the soaring keyboards add to the dreamy soundscape while vocals go from melodic clean to throaty roars and anguished rasps.
Symphonic black metal elements abound on “Roe Too Noo (Flow Of The Mind)” as the keyboards come to the fore over the guitars and drums, and even the vocals at times.
The deep vocal growls on “Sempiternal” are the complete antithesis of the rather light keyboard melodies that accompany them and the ever-changing guitar riffs.
While the drums tend to get a little manic on “Existence”, the remainder of the instruments tend to remain mostly even paced and melodic in their delivery of aural goodness.
“The Purge” continues the theme of blasting drums over whispered vocals then black metal rasps, as the guitars range from high speed tremolo to buzzing laconically.
The operatic feel of the vocals in “The Occultation Of Time” work well with their black metal counterparts as the music flows from heavy and bassy to light and melodic, then back.
The album ends with the rather ethereal “Void”, where sharply strummed guitar over lightly played piano and a range of vocals give the album the perfect outro as it all fades away pleasantly.
While filled with plenty of ferocious black metal aggression, there are plenty of subdued melodic elements that contrast perfectly giving the album a varied sound that allows for repeated listening.
(7/10 Marco Gaminara)
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