Këkht Aräkh – Pale Swordsman (2021)

March 18, 2022

Wow, I can immediately see what the hype is for this record. It topped a lot of lists last year, and the artwork is quite striking. Aurally, Pale Swordsman is an exercise is raw black metal, but mixing elements of DSBM (I’m in particular drawn to the slow piano overlays that remind me of Lifelover) with more traditional, unholy trinity era Darkthrone (in regards to both the riffs and the production). It also manages to sound like a dusty 90s tape recording, but without sounding like a pile of garbled shit. There are gentler moments too, even though the harsh parts almost always have their own undercurrent of melody.

A haunting, striking piece and I look forward to seeing what else this project has to offer, past and present.