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Arkheth > Hymns of a Howling Wind > Reviews
Arkheth - Hymns of a Howling Wind

Fine melodic black metal. - 80%

Zenotic, March 30th, 2005

As noted by the previous review Arkheth take a very tried-and-true approach to a black metal album - a melodic choir introduction moving into what is probably the best song on the album, Hymn of a Howling Wind, and concluding with a rough, repetitive outro, Eternal. Predominant in each song is the use of the first - sixth - first chord progression, done with competence and emotional effect. Every song has very impressive strong points and, unfortunately, some glaring weak points. For example, the short groaning session in the fourth track, Winter's Tears, sounds very out of place and in my opinion does not fit the context of the album. The sound overall is of an epic nature, and the song structures are sound. Most of the music is moderate in tempo and the drumming is straightforward and reasonably simple.

Arkheth's website claims that much of their material is inspired by nature - specifically, local forests - and this album does nothing to refute that. The lyrical imagery and album art is predominantly natural in focus, dealing with otherwise familiar black metal themes - the third track, Parody of the Forgotten, is strongly reminiscent of Burzum's Det Som Engang Var both in tenor and the subject, that of an age long gone and irretrievable.

The production is very clear and rich in reverb - a symphonic influence may be suggested here. In most of the songs a vox synth can be heard wavering in the background, reminiscent of some of Emperor's symphonic material, but otherwise Skolthorn and Tyraenos take a straightforward and tried-and-true approach to their music, with impressive results.

I'd be interested in following the development of this band had I not received information (I admit from less-than-authoritative sources) to the effect that Arkheth is only nominally active at present. However, I'm proud to own this release. Still, I'm very pleased with my purchase, and would readily recommend this release to anyone interested in Australian black metal.

Workmanlike - 50%

EndlessTorment, January 17th, 2005

Arkheth comes from the town of Orange in Australia, formed from the remnants of a previous band called Eternal Dark. The minimalist artwork and ambiguous band logo that could be read as Urkhets or any number of other things immediately labels this as a black metal release, and the tracks won’t leave the listener with any other interpretation either. While the production values are rather noteworthy and certainly well beyond what one can normally expect from a debut underground release, 'Hymns of a Howling Wind' is really little more than a young band emulating their heroes without bringing much of themselves to what they’re doing. “Euphoric Gardens of Algaresh” is the standard ambient intro, “Eternal” the typical instrumental closing piece and the five tracks in between really just play it by numbers with multi-layered keyboards, thin, buzzing guitar tones, grim, occasionally shrieky vocals and eloquently contrived song titles. It isn’t bad by any means, but it’s very far from original, over-stepping the same well-trodden ground that hundreds of others have packed solid. That wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing in itself, but Arkheth doesn’t really seem to bring any flair or real inspiration to what they do to make them stand out, even a little bit, from the crowd.

This review originally written for www.geocities.com/loudster