S.E.K.H. are an industrial/noise black metal duo hailing from Galicia, Spain, formed by AT (Suspiral, Black Earth, Sheidim), and MS (Suspiral, Excurse), releasing a “debut album”, or double EP, tomorrow October 11 through Sentient Ruin as a limited edition double cassette tape box set + digital. The abhorrent work titled “Acéphale & Arkhé Tenebre” is a somewhat of a “compilation” release featuring a previous EP from 2018 (“Acéphale”) + a brand new and unreleased EP (“Arkhé Tenebre”), which was however recorded during the same recording sessions of the pre-existing “Acéphale” EP, and both EPs are contained within their own respective tape. Despite the pre-existince of “Acéphale”, “Acéphale & Arkhé Tenebre” still sounds like something alien, hideous, otherworldly, and completely unheard of, and today we’re stoked to premiere this abomination in full so you can fill your ears with some of the most twisted and hallucinatory black metal to appear all year….
“Acéphale & Arkhé Tenebre” is a hideous exercise is sensorial defilement and sonic evisceration. On the extravagant double cassette box set the band let loose a hideous amalgam of black metal, ambient, noise and industrial of absolutely horrifying intensity that will disfigure the listener’s senses. Sonically devastating and aesthetically magnificent, the double EP is a twisted work of inverted art where mangled and dissonant guitars, oppressive electronics, and surreal atmospheres submerge the listener into a lucid nightmare, blending raw black metal, industrial noise, and dark ambient with absolutely devastating effects on the listener. The whole work is further enhanced by delirious commentary, lyrics, themes, and subject matter influenced by Battaille’s notions of subversion and the embracing of an abyss as a form of completion of self, making for an hallucinatory and deviant audio-conceptual-visual nightmare that is aimed at disorienting, repulsing, and devastating the listener at the same time. S.E.K.H. have accurately claimed to be sonically influenced by bands like Mysticum, Leviathan and Blut Aus Nord, and it shows, but dare I say, I hear plenty of more abstract sound deconstructionism going on in here, akin to what you’d find in bands like Sutekh Hexen, Reverorum Ib Malacht, or Spektr, so expect to be confused, lost, and quite clueless when delving within, as logic and reason herein are null.
The double cassette aesthetically matches the music perfectly, with the artwork by Heresie Graphics (Teitanblood, Sinmara, Svartidauði etc.) being outstanding and magnificent as always, and the edition maniacally curated in every way possible, with silkscreened artwork and more. You can grab it from Sentient Ruin HERE.
