There are some creations that just refuse to conform to the norm, whatever such a thing may be in this genre. When certain musicians occupy the same space and really rack their brains to explore different avenues of what metal can become when extrapolated and experimented with, anything feels possible. That’s just one factor that made Arkhaaik such an interesting act when it first came about six years ago with that debut still something that demands our respect, yet it is in every given moment of their sophomore album that this ambitious and tremendously layered performance taps into the psyche on a profound level.

To even just dip your toe into what Arkhaaik has carefully crafted here is to find yourself before overwhelming magnificence. Refusing to stay within the confines of even a handful of metal styles to make a sound that well and truly feels their own, it’s through the four intensely hypnotic tracks of “Uihtis” that we’re thrown back into the Bronze Age where the hunt and its rituals permeate much of humanity with Arkhaaik invoking those ancient traditions intoxicatingly well and making damn sure that the listener is wholly encapsulated by the themes and motifs that are executed masterfully throughout the entire vastness that “Uihtis” calls its own. While always captivating in its dense tapestries of atmosphere, Arkhaaik displays a brand of metal that feels raw yet undeniably honed and directed for all that it brings to the table with these riffs and halls of ritualistic bewilderment stretching across the realms of death, black, and doom metal and beyond to make for an overall performance that overwhelmingly embodies the definition of striking. With each track clocking well over ten minutes, this behemoth creation is as immersive as it is punishingly creative. You can feel the heat of the primordial sun upon your brow. You can feel the intensity of the hunt in your very soul. You can feel the weight of responsibility that your ancestors passed onto you. The rituals performed to guarantee your success were not in vain! You will strike true precisely as Arkhaaik has with every given facet of “Uihtis”.

Transcendent and unique, this is an effort that does far more than stand tall on its own two feet. A powerful presence that’s to be found in every given minute of this record and offering something that only the extremely few are able to come even close to embodying, Arkhaaik demands our respect and attention with all that they bring to the table in this excursion of undeniable creativity. Spell-binding even in its smallest moments, the whole of “Uihtis” is something that I implore you to become lost within.

“Uihtis” releases on August 1st via Eisenwald!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Uihtis” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Arkhaaik on Facebook via Jünger Tumilon here.

FOLLOW Arkhaaik on Instagram via Jünger Tumilon here.