• Rating:
After nearly two decades of all-around Metal, with numerous bands and tours behind me, about fifteen albums, EPs, and singles under my belt, and a small "career" as an official reviewer where I had to endure the worst crap just to submit work on time, it's rare to be astonished by a work in this field.
This is not the case with "The Dreaming I" by Akhlys, a sort of Black Metal supergroup discovered purely by chance on a friend's wall, as the aforementioned album (and its successor, which I might soon discuss) is perhaps the best release I've heard in the Black Metal scene for at least the past 10 years.
Chilly, dark, powerful, harrowing in its (apparent) total lack of any melodic foothold, technically impeccable, experimental and extreme just right, in short, a damn perfect album: the ambient atmospheres only serve as a palliative for a monumental sonic and vocal violence (the strong point of the album) to say the least, blast beats and relentless accelerations, so much so that it seems the soundtrack to what could be eternal damnation, an aesthetic hell, internal yet visible, where no light exists.
Purchased immediately along with the entire discography (yes, I still buy albums), I haven't regretted it for a second, in fact, I still use it as a benchmark for any other genre release (and not), a completely blind listen, I assure you, gives you goosebumps.
This is the real Metal: the kind that still scares, whose screams come from within, from the depths of our soul, a pleasant dimension that knows how to offer moments of poetry in the most wrenching madness.
10/10
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