Khors

Album: Khors, Wisdom of Centuries
Label: Candlelight (Cult Series)
Release: September 11, 2012

I’m a big fan of the Candlelight Cult Series, not always of all the music but the concept at least. I love discovering new music and the next big thing and that’s pretty much what the label does with the albums that are part of this. Khors is one of those groups that have steadily improved over time and while maybe not quite known enough to get full backing, it’s recognized that there’s something about them that’s going to make them big.

Wisdom of Centuries is the Ukranian band’s fifth album in seven years. I’m sure there aren’t many in the US that have heard of them, especially the first two or three records due to them being on a very small label and I’d bet not even seeing a release here. But having dug them all up, I can safely say this is a band to watch out for.

They play an atmospheric brand of black metal that has progressed from rawness, to precision and darkness over time. They’ve always used keyboards giving their music somewhat of a psychedelic sound and even prog-ish at times though with this new album they enhance their sound better than on any other disc. At first glance I was thrown off a bit by the track list consisting of four songs all 6+ minutes in length and four short instrumentals with back-to-back ones smack dab in the middle (it probably works nicely and the end of side 1 and start of side 2 on the LP). They’ve put instrumentals on their records before but never to this extent. But thankfully all the parts align well enough to create a solid recording.

This is the first album sung in their native tongue (though like most black metal releases, this could have been in any language as you can’t really understand much anyway) but the vocals are still cleaner than a lot of what their peers put out. The production quality is great for a smaller release with the fantastic guitar riffs and superior drumming really standing out. Of the four with vocals, “Black Forest’s Flaming Eyes” really stands out not only for what are two or three really mesmerizing riffs but also they keys adding an atmospheric touch making darkness and light come together. And the title track is led by some really non-black metal sounding drums and some fantastic grimness to the rhythm while the keys bring this kind of spooky element to the tune, like something out of a horror movie. I still might argue that the short, mellow interludes take away from the brutality of the other tunes but take them out and you have a fantastic EP. As a whole, it’s still a great LP which should only help bring some name recognition to a damn good group.