Bands from Belarus have never failed me. Here’s another of the black metal kind. Judging by their previous release, nothingness and desolation is where they’re at.
“Deathly ennui over the nothing” is how they describe it.

Just the title “Irrigating Lethal Acres with Blood” sounds scary. Well, if the title is, so is the song itself – ferocious and utterly black, it leaves no room for compromise. The music passes through like a storm. Stand up and take notice. Or rather be knocked down by the cold blast. “Irrigating Lethal Acres” has the fury but it’s also as if the axe is swinging – impressive. What was the world be without distortion? Khandra twist the knife some more with the terrifying “Nothing but Immortality for Aye”. The sound reverberates. Everything points to destruction. After three or so minutes of threatening us, Khandra go for the jugular and ramp it up. The vocalist growls and roars in keeping with the cold and hostile warfare that’s going on. The fury continues. The structure of the songs is strong, aided by the quality of sound and transforming atmospheres as this relentlessly dark story rumbles down the road. I detected a little bit of Opeth in the melody of “In Harvest Against The Sun”, and here’s the thing. This is as far from dismal black atmospheres as you can get. Every ounce of creativity and musicianship has gone into these power- and energy-packed songs. “In Harvest Against The Sun” could even be described as uplifting, or would be if all that force wasn’t coming down.

“With the Blessing of Starless Night” has nothing uplifting about it. It is a matter of pure assault, orchestrated as ever by the drummer and an impenetrable wall of sound. The guitar style reminds me of Immortal. This whole experience is more Immortal than Opeth – that earlier moment must have been an aberration. Now we’re talking rumbustious black metal. Neatly it slows down and the threat level is heightened. The start of “Thanatos” sounds like the prelude to war. Sure enough the anticipated explosion happens and we’re to roaring violence. Khandra cleverly bring it back to the noise-filled rooms of menace as the music which in comparative terms falls between Khold and Loits with bucketloads of extra heaviness. The atmosphere is of murder and misery. Despair mixes with anger. The music is imperious. The final blast is the title track, another rip-roaring aural assault with the twists and turns which are hallmark of this band.

This is a highly accomplished answer. There is a school of thought that says that black metal should be raw and not produced but “All Occupied by Sole Death” belies that theory. The quality of production and the sound effects help to intensify the transforming atmospheres of this ferociously dark and powerful work.

(8.5/10 Andrew Doherty)

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https://khandra.bandcamp.com/album/all-occupied-by-sole-death