Arkhtinn - Arkhtinn

ARKHTINN - Arkhtinn (ATAVISM - MC 2013)

Arkhtinn is yet another project from Atavism Records, which I have a pleasure to listen to… and this one is I think the most mysterious from all, as we just don’t know anything about Arkhtinn; the country of origin is unknown (somewhere in the North… of what? Of France? Of Europe?), the line up is also unknown… there’s just no info at all about Arkhtinn, besides the fact that “I” is the first release of this project.

Musically Arkhtinn is different to anything I have heard from Atavism so far. Sure, it is once more a black metal project, but this one is more like an ambient / black metal, as both styles have an enormous influence on the music of Arkhtinn. And two sides of the cassette are like two sides of the same coin; both completely different. Side B is just a long ambient song. There are many weird sounds spread through its 20 minutes, some spooky, disturbing, drone noises or whatever, so you rather shouldn’t expect those nice and melodic keyboard ambient songs like from some Burzum LPs. It’s nothing like “Tomhet” or “Hliðskjálf”, it’s just something very weird, a bit disturbing, but also dark and definitely cool to listen to, if you only like such stuff. I bet many of you may find it as terribly boring though, but try to listen to it in the dark.

And on side A there’s another side of the coin and it is again nothing nice and easily listenable; this time it is harsh, raw and cold, but also a bit atmospheric, black metal… Music wise I can say that Arkhtinn fulfils my expectations. They may not be the most brilliant and possessing of all black metal projects, which I have heard, but the material is solid and worth being listened to for sure. It suffers a little bit for a weak production, the recording is not too loud and so you must really play that tape loud to hear the riffs, which still is pretty difficult… and the drumming is even more hidden in the fog… Only the screaming, torturous vocals are well audible, being well in the front of the whole recording. So, the production could have been better, from the other hand such sound quality has its charm and fits the musical style perfectly, so I am not going to moan on that at all. And once you’ll “hear” some of those riffs and get the sense of Arkhtinn music then I am sure you will find is as interesting.

So, Arkhtinn will not be an easy listening to you. Primitive, harsh and raw chaotic black metal from one side and sinister, disturbing noise /ambient on another… All together it is 40 minutes of something unsettling, but I am sure that some maniacs will just love it. I’m maybe not utterly enthusiastic about Arkhtinn, but I did like the music and will certainly plain it once for a while. Some critics compared it to Paysage D’hiver, Darkspace by the way – I honestly don’t know these two projects, but maybe if these comparisons are right it can give you an idea of how Arkhtinn sounds like.

Final rate: 68/100