Back once more into the secret underground bunker beneath snow-capped mountains that is the domain of the Helvetic Underground Committee. Here we have the ghastly Lykhaeon, a duo comprising of members of acts such as Dakhma, Ungfell & Arkhaaik among others. I remember well their last offering, the two-track calamitous ‘Ominous Eradication of Anguished Souls’ which rose from hell in 2018 via Godz Ov War. The review of it went out with the words “approach with utmost caution” as it really was a nerve-shredding exercise in musical torment and terror. It has taken the pair that are Kerberos (throat and doom) and Meister T (tomb and summoning) along with session batterer J three years cast down amongst the plague to realise its foul sequel and (gulp) it’s double the length. How will one survive it was my immediate concern?
Thankfully though, ideas have been co-ordinated, consolidated and sinuously crafted to make an album that is actually much more cohesive a listening experience. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still scary stuff and at times downright terrifying and not music that should be trespassed upon by accident or for those looking for quick arcane knowledge. Gloom and clouds of fetid incense spread in tenebrous fashion from the title track, cloying the mind gradually whilst slow pounding drums take up the beat. So begins this serpentine, sprawling lesson in the black and darkest arts as cries and crashes of torment fill the void. The backdrop is somewhat symphonic as over the seven pieces we have choral elements providing subtle choirs of the damned. The main thrust over numbers such as A Stain Upon Celestial Rule is of cavernous doom and dread over a volatile miasma of booming drums, slithering guitars and hoary magisterial vocal barks. There are fast and furious breaks of speed where the pulverising blasts and cymbal crashes roll and crush before things are tempered down to crawl among the catacombs and stealthily creep up. Speeds and pacing are incredibly well poised giving the listener plenty of diversification over songs that easily hit the ten-minute mark without a hint of staleness about them.
Like a wild animal, this is music that requires the utmost respect otherwise if handled without care it will strike and poison the unwary. This will have you kneeling and bowed down at the font of black orthodoxy in much the same way as revered names like Acherontas and Varathron; perhaps due to the Greek mythos at the heart of its narrative. The ritualistic and ceremonial aspects that seep between the gaps are mesmerising and the sudden depth-charging assaults are lethal as you steer through the dark and confront numbers like the labyrinthine ‘Abducting The Seed.’ Some lilting pipe work at the end of this monster sends a shiver down the spine and visions of Persephone’s abduction by Hades are captured and ravaged by the tumultuous ‘Descent Into Ruinous Splendour’ which follows as a pillaging all-out assault. The fact that her father Zeus actually blessed this defilement makes the tale all the more dreadful to behold. ‘Opprobrium’ has the epic thrust that the likes of Homer would no doubt approve, the gods themselves feasting on the fleshy ambrosia that is ‘The Whorish Arrogance Of Immortals.’ This apocryphal penultimate track really twists, turns and churns in diabolical torment before having had their fill calm is finally restored and the gods slumber once more via instrumental endpiece ‘To Salvage The Seed.’
So, there’s stacks to indulge yourself in here and not just musical as a whole historical cosmos is up for exploration. Don’t go looking for a quick fix though as it’s an incredibly dense experience in every respect and one I feel I am just touching upon here. Indulge yourself in this Olympian feat at the bandcamp link below and prepare to sink slowly into the very depths of Hades.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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