AKHLYS - The Dreaming I
April 14, 2015, 9 years ago
(Debemur Morti)
It’s no coincidence that both Akhlys and black metal chaosmonger Nightbringer feel like spiritual brethren, as Nightbringer founder Naas Alcameth is at the heart - blackened - of both bands. And much like Nightbringer’s immense, and immensely imposing, catalogue, Akhlys overwhelms the listener with its virulent and violent strains, the group unrelenting and even disturbing in the way it takes black metal convention and makes it uglier, burlier and even more unrepentantly visceral.
Where the two groups differ is in Akhlys’ emphasis on ambient soundscapes to create voids in the midst of the ominous and menacing grandiosity, and these subtle (?) elements act as potent foreshadowing for the blaze in the northern sky that then emerges. It’s difficult to accurately convey just how striking Akhlys can be both at its peaks and through its valleys, so we’ll let the metal gods tell the story: “Screaming For Vengeance”.
