For all intents and purposes, there are just some creations out there that words can hardly do justice for. We’re lucky enough to live in a time where there’s loads of talent to be had out in the vast underground where anything is now possible, and we’re even luckier still to find ourselves before select acts that refuse to stay silent for long in an ongoing endeavor to push themselves as well as their craft to reaches beyond normal comprehension. For eight years now, Esoctrilihum has been a name we simply cannot escape from. Constantly experimenting with its own sound and creating a dense mythology as the years and compositions have piled on, it’s within this entity’s twelfth album that we see that furthered with all the dark nuance and sinister intent that Esoctrilihum has become truly synonymous with.

When dealing with a band that’s always dishing out new material like this, it’s oftentimes in the smaller ways that differences are made apparent as growth can come in many different forms with it usually being in different songwriting, the inclusion of new instruments, or different themes that can make a new performance stand out from its predecessors. For Esoctrilihum, everything is on the table. Each signature creation from the name has offered something new or, at the very least, provided a more focused approach to a particular aspect to ensure that virtually every record has something to call its own. Admittedly, though, things tend to blend together after several works in such a relatively short span of time.

Over twelve albums and numerous singles and EPs over the course of eight years, it would be understandable and almost expected for any name to succumb to such a fate in some form or another, and Esoctrilihum is no different. Some works have been stronger than others with some feeling more disjointed even in their own magnificence while others are downright masterpieces of the psychotic black-death metal that Esoctrilihum has gained a reputation for. The phrase “quality over quantity” certainly has a place in this conversation. Yet, it’s in the face of such a pitfall that Esoctrilihum has remained stalwart in its dark artistic vision. Constantly adding new chapters to its ever-growing mythos that I still don’t quite understand even after being intimate with its madness for years now, Esoctrilihum has always been seeking new sonic avenues and pathways to further its creation while ensuring that the very name stays relevant and a certifiable presence in the world of extreme metal. For all that’s delivered within its latest creation, “”Ghostigmatah – Spiritual Rites of the Psychopomp Abxulöm”, it’s evident that Esoctrilihum refuses to let itself become predictable or really understandable in damn near any form.

With ten tracks that clock in for a runtime of over 83 minutes, this is the second longest creation from Esoctrilihum. Every composition from the act is quite lengthy and overflowing with all sorts of different machinations and approaches to fill out such a lengthy runtime with that being no different for everything that’s brought to the table throughout “Ghostigmatah”. Relying on the ethereal atmospheres and overwhelming aural offensives that has become a truly signature aspect of the sound of this act, it’s through a nightmarish landscape that we are guided towards an oblivion after abandoning our flesh that Esoctrilihum paints a haunting tapestry that perpetuates its own mythology while carving out new paths in that obscurity. With the inclusion of fresh instruments like the harp, kantele, and hammered dulcimer, “Ghostigmatah” quickly gains a terrifying personality that’s all its own. On the surface, one can be forgiven in thinking that Esoctrilihum has really done anything new to make “Ghostigmatah” stands out from its litany of predecessors, but it’s upon putting this excursion into nothingness under a microscope that the listener becomes one with the very concept of fading away.

Gorgeously macabre and unapologetic for its scathing approaches that add fascinating contrast to the extradimensional rituals that are at play between these horrific melodies and disturbing riffs, it’s the whole of this psychedelic experience into the next world that Esoctrilihum shows us what it stills has to offer with immeasurable flavor. Esoctrilihum has never been one to offer compromise in any form whether it be in regard to its vision, aural torment, or intensity in its craft, and that proves to be no different for the absolute entirety of “Ghostigmatah”.

There’s certainly a conversation to be had about all that Esoctrilihum has accomplished over the years with an impressive run that’s had its own fair share of ups and downs, but one thing remains clear above all else that cannot be denied for so much as a moment: this is a one-of-a-kind entity that cannot be easily tamped out. Ever is there more to be found in the depths of blackened obscurity. Esoctrilihum remains one of the bulwarks of charging into such madness and constantly crawling back to offer us such visages that are equal part madness-inducing and awe-inspiring. “Ghostigmatah” is no different.

“Ghostigmatah – Spiritual Rites of the Psychopomp Abxulöm” releases on September 5th via I, Voidhanger Records!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Ghostigmatah – Spiritual Rites of the Psychopomp Abxulöm” on Bandcamp here or via YouTube below.