Debut album ‘Snare Of All Salvation’ certainly created an impact when it arrived from out of nowhere back in 2020 and obviously as soon as its follow up landed in my inbox I was keen to get stuck into it. This is a US based duo, the instrumentation all down to Alex Poole who is known for his work in many acts such as Chaos Moon, Ringarë, Skáphe and the almighty Krieg (who have a new album finally scheduled for later this year). I have followed most of Alex’s work that has come my way and as far as Häxanu are concerned its L.C. of Lichmagick who is on hand providing the coarse and scabrous vocal snarls.

Playing the two albums back to back there are many noticeable things about them stylistically, notably the wild, fast and furious guitar licks which coat the tracks and hardly stand still for a second. There is however a couple of moments of subtlety here though with two short instrumental pieces at start and as penultimate number. This was intriguing not just as it is mentioned that there is a certain Hellenic style found within here but also as the tracks are entitled in Ancient Greek. The gorgeous acoustic guitar of ‘Θάρσει’ against backdrop of sea is a fitting introduction that lulls you in and certainly sounds like the calm before the storm that is ‘Death Euphoria.’ Romping away with vitriolic fervour we are thrust ashore like an avenging army of Spartans. Bloodthirsty yells, venomously tar the bouncy mainframe and we really get a fist-slamming, bouncy ride here.

Epic is something the duo proved adroit at on the opening album and if you want to completely lose yourself in the multihued guitar licks over length you can do so over the next couple of whopping numbers. At almost quarter of an hour ‘Thriambus – Threnoidia’ thunders in and just keeps on going in a whirlwind of windswept aggression. It’s dizzying stuff made even more veracious due to the ever-increased vocal squalls. There’s some glorious underlying melody here amongst the feudal flurries and after a while there is added atmosphere from swirling keyboard sound giving things a bit of a mystical vibe. The energy flies from the speakers and if you are looking for black metal that will revitalise you in its glory you are defiantly and definitely in the right place. Having survived the fury, the 10-minute ‘Sparagmos’ serves to dismember you like the Ancient Greek ritual its title represents. To say that it flails the skin of the flesh would admittedly be a cliché but what the hell…

This really is a seething cauldron of an album. It takes a few spins to get into the tumbling tumult of it all as well as look into the origins of the narrative. Apparently ‘οὐδεὶς ἀθάνατος’ translates to “take courage, no one is immortal’ and was found transcribed on inscribed tablets known in Germanic as Totenpass in ancient tombs. You won’t be learning all this from throwaway pop songs but thankfully this rite of “sacred fire” is as much a knowledgeable seer as it is decimating.

(8/10 Pete Woods)