Here we go! I know that Akhlys has been involved in controversy in the past and has even been banned from some media outlets. Since I’m a cat, human affairs don’t affect me, and despite my ideological disagreements with, well, a lot of Black Metal bands, I’ll focus on the art this time. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll admit that I loved The Dreaming I and that it’s one of the best albums of its kind! Though I enjoyed Melinoë, it just wasn’t the same. Hence, I approached House of the Black Geminus with mixed expectations. Let’s just fall into this endless pit, ok?
House of the Black Geminus is a nightmare! In the (good!) sense that it probably has the densest atmosphere any Akhlys album has had before. It’s not as chaotic as previous albums; it’s just louder to the point that you can’t tell what’s going on with those perverse riffs, but you still stick around in a hopeless attempt to figure it out. I do hear a more “electronic” take on the horrendous, dreamy images Akhlys is trying to convey, which is interesting, but I don’t think it’s something that will click immediately with the average Metalhead. House feels like being in an enclosed maze that is quickly filling up with water. The band has managed again to evoke that feeling of being trapped in your own dream world.
It’s fair to say that this is a band that has changed its sound. Yes, the album follows similar song patterns and overall structures to previous work, but it does break away in several areas. There’s more experimentation; the mix has become more brick-walled, and the guitar melodies are a bit less sentimental and just go straight for the most sinister twist they can get. Forget about the bass player; more than instruments, House sounds like a wall of evil shrieking coming to swallow your soul. Feeling a bit less uplifted than usual, right? Well, it’s because the bad part comes now.
This is painful to say, but I’m not sure I like the production on this album. It’s too loud and saturated. There’s a constant white noise fuzzing in the back that is clearly intentional, but it constantly distracts me. Though House sounds more malicious than anything Akhlys has done before, I miss the more depressing and melodic side of the band. It has its moments, like “Sister Silence, Brother Sleep,” but they aren’t as common as I’d like. Then there’s the fact that this is a long album full of long tracks that also includes an interlude (“Black Geminus”), which to my ears is at least two minutes too long.
This is a valiant effort to mix things up from one of the most harrowing projects in the genre. It might not have been all I expected, but I’m sure that Black Metal diehards will eat it whole, including bones and guts. Nobody comes close to sounding like Akhlys, so in the end, it’s only competing with itself. Yet the competition is ruthless. It’s time for you to try the darkest waters of your own unconscious. I wonder, where my sleeping pills are…
Label: Debemur Morti Production
Release date: 5 July, 2024
Website: https://www.facebook.com/p/Akhlys-100045704862350/
Country: USA
Score: an endless nocturnal terror, or 3.5/5.0 for the diehards and 3.0/5.0 for the noobs.
Metal Eclipse Reviews 