I do like bands that have some meaning behind their monikers which this Belgian band has with their band name. According to Guillaume Cazalet aka CZLT, it is a transference from Greco-Egyptian Hermeticism as Pisces Aries. In fact if you read the information on the band’s Bandcamp page you get a full explanation surrounding the ethos and conceptual basis that he has founded for this project which I won’t go into here.
This is his second album under Ôros Kaù, and I say that because he has or has had his hands within a multitude of other bands as well, which clearly demonstrates the guy’s skill and undeniable talent. When I first listened to ‘Thanatos’ I was struck by how dark and utterly unforgiving his work is, including the songs on the debut ‘Imperii Templum Aries’ which has much shorter songs than this sophomore. ‘Nephtys’ is the opener on the new opus and the immediate isolated and bleak bereft riff indicates the path this album is going to take you down. It has intertwining malevolence that manifests through the riffing as the insidious vocals possess an intrinsic horrifying tone that is in the first instance barbaric and in the second extremely inhuman in tone. The opener’s blasted assault has that sense of trying to annihilate you from existence, its remorselessness seeps into your bones, fracturing them and pounding them to dust. The oppressive nature of the album affords it a style that is similar to quite a few of Iceland’s current black metal scene such as Misþyrming, Sinmara and Svartidauði. There is also a similarity to the now sadly defunct Aosoth from France, due to that oppressive almost suffocating tone the album has.
‘Let Neptune Strike Ye Dead’ follows the opener with a much shorter assault where the slower tempo gives the tune a meandering maliciousness that also sees the song dip its toes into a slight dissonance that borders frenzied chaos but of course it is highly controlled. The piercing guitar hook that drifts on the mix will stay with you for days as ‘Baal’ continues the albums inescapable nihilism. Slightly longer with a blackened doom beginning the song contorts around unnerving riffs and a blanketing dread filled atmosphere. Again there is a piercing hook that penetrates the songs fabric giving it a nightmarish tone that is highly unsettling.
Returning to blasting speed is ‘Marbas’, a song with unhinged velocities perpetuated by the drum work but also the ceaseless onslaught of riffing and a myriad of dexterous twists that unravel as the song progresses. The song is a veritable bombardment, like a thousand nuclear missiles raining down simultaneously and links very nicely with the highly disturbing The Arcana XIII: Dawn Of The Red Scorpio‘. At eight minutes plus the tormented vocal tone is very creepy indeed, like someone trapped in their own terror strewn abyss with no escape. The song rarely relents for a second which only enhances its perpetual sonic torture before closing the release with the monumental epic closer ‘Bios-Phos-Metis’.
The closer has an expected intro segment, its eeriness ingrains it with a sinister and again disturbing aura where the song’s experimental nature is reinforced with more tormented vocal wailing that drift in like voices on the wind. The ghoulish ethos is avant-garde like, with no actual detonation as the song’s occult approach had me thinking about another act called At The Altar Of The Horned God from Spain. The way the song twists and writhes around its central atmospheric base produces a feeling that the track is stalking you, sonic fingers lightly brushing you causing that unnerving and almost paranoid notion that something is out to get you whilst you wander on a foggy night.
Superlatives aside, Ôros Kaù are a prime example of how utterly distressing black metal can be and ‘Thanatos’ is exactly that, it will channel you down avenues that will have you curled up in terror.
(8.5/10 Martin Harris)
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