Do Azaghal need any introduction? Well, just for fun: formed more than three decades ago (initially as Belfegor) with some demonstrational material and a 7”EP during the second half of the Nineties. Debut full-lengths Mustamaa and Helvetin YhdeksÄn Püriä followed soon after; ah, I remember my modest enthusiasm back then, but that’s another story (and damn yeah, I am getting old). Throughout the years, the band recorded more material (via some notorious labels), line-up changes occurred, and eventually the band started playing live too (which wasn’t the case during their first decade of existence).
Enter 2014. A first contact appeared when Azaghal and Ars Veneficium decided to release a split via Immortal Frost Productions. It was the first in a series of mutual conjunction between the label (run, by the way, by the frontman of aforementioned Ars Veneficium), followed by e.g. another split, this time with Oath, and some new albums: Valo Pohjoisesta and Alttarimme On Luista Tehty. And now it is time to welcome the newest chapter in this partnership, called Nekrohelios.
This new album - their thirteenth album it is indeed! - is another masterwork; but we’ll come back to the sonic content soon. Once again, it gets released on compact-disc, which includes a twenty-eight-page booklet (28 pages indeed!) and a poster. And there are three different vinyl opportunities too: the ‘normal’ black one, a crystal-clear transparent edition, and a so-called koi-pond version (respectively printed in 122, 111 and 100 copies), all of them coming with insert (including the lyrics) and a poster on A2-format. The layout and design, for your information, are courtesy of the label’s devotee WrathDesign, with cover artwork (and additional paintings) by the band’s ex-cel-lent (!) vocalist Thirteen, who joined this act in 2022.
After having listened to this album a couple of times, I can start with this: Nekrohelios might be the most ‘complete’ Azaghal release in their notorious career; at least, that’s my personal opinion, for what it’s worth. It sort of ‘spans’ their three decades of sonic excellence, picking elements from their pounding and melodic approach (cf. the Immortal Frost era), as well as from the more timeless and little more ‘undergroundish’ earlier years. And there’s a certain increase of complex techniques used as well, (luckily) without fading away into some progressive intricacy.
All tracks do combine melody with aggression, old-styled rawness with contemporary technicity, and atmospheric ambience with no-nonsense brutality. Their blaspheme messages are fast and intolerant, yet without any form of pathetic exaggeration. The album comes with an energy almost undefinable, translated through the up-tempo up to hyper-speed riffage and blasting, merciless drum patterns (courtesy of Lima, who joined the band more than a decade ago [and whom you might know as well from acts like Hautakammio, Amberian Dawn, Lathspell, Wyrd or Amorta]). And maybe more than before, Nekrohelios seems to dwell in spheres of mighty, proud epicism, adding a touch of Pagan / Viking / Heathen (Black Metal) alike finesse from time to time.
After the very fine intro (short but oh so elegant), which refers to some of the rather Ambient / Dungeon Synth oriented projects by frontman and original member Narqath, one can experience a monumental soundtrack of fierce Nordic-styled Black Metal, with some other fine outsider elements, such as some subtle keyboards (listen to these hypnotic and atmospheric synths in Elysium, for instance), clean vocals, a few decelerations, mesmeric soloing, and above all, a sound quality of the highest level. The latter has to do with the perfect mix at the one hand, and the monumental production at the other. The mix, well, all instruments / vocals on Nekrohelios are as important to define the final outcome. Of course the lead guitars and voices are of superior importance, for they are like the face - a scar-designed face indeed - of this whole adventure. But the rhythm and bass guitars and the drums / percussion, acting as the spine of this celestial body, carry the whole, lifting it up towards the most fragile, susceptible dimensions of the sonic spectrum. The recording engineering is very professional, lacking irritating noise or undefinable sounds at the background; and at the very same time it withholds an unpolished fairness, drenching the whole into a sonore bubble, if you want to, fortifying the misanthropic mission.
I think I’ve said enough, short and concise. Every ‘fan’ of ‘true’ Second Wave Black Metal will appreciate this effort. I know that it is ‘another’ release in an overcharged scene, but this is a necessary piece of blackened Aural Art; not a suggestion, but a necessity!
https://immortalfrostproductions1.bandcamp.com/album/nekrohelios
https://www.immortalfrostproductions.com/releases/azaghal/azaghal-nekrohelios-cd-vinyl-digital/
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/ars-veneficium-azaghal
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/azaghal-oath
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/azaghal
https://www.concreteweb.be/reviews/azaghal-1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9qvHKR8XqE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXYMxVQXP5M