November 2022 Feature Release - The North Edition

Another year, another plethora of releases from the always chaotic workhorse Esoctrilihum. I was heavily considering featuring Consecration of the Spiritüs Flesh instead of Saopth's, but the former is a much more straightforward War Metal experience that I surprisingly have come to enjoy. Saopth's is a bit more complicated, as it has hints of my favorite Esoctrilihum album Eternity of Shaog, but doesn't quite seem to get there. Each one of Asthâghul's albums is a bit different and never without its interesting bits, but I'd like to dive into this one a bit further before the end of the year. 

https://metal.academy/releases/40395

I didn't mind this one. The death metal influence of Esoctrilihum's past seems to have been cast aside for a purely black metal oriented sound with a significant symphonic component to it on this occasion. I'm not the biggest fan of symphonic metal in general but this example is highly gothic with an epic, grandiose atmosphere that doesn't see me wanting to shy away at any point. The cover art is the perfect fit for the music too actually. "Saopth's" is certainly a very brutal record with it's consistent use of machine-gun style blast-beats & that's generally a positive for someone with my long-standing preference for ultra-extreme metal. Unfortunately I find the programmed nature of the drums to be a bit annoying, particularly the lack of drum rolls which could of added a lot of impact in my opinion. A bigger weakness is the vocals though as I'm not really sure they're up to the task. Overall I found this to be an enjoyable yet flawed release that gave me some enjoyment but it is unlikely to receive return visits.

For fans of Emperor, Hecate Enthroned & Necromantia.

3.5/5

This was okay. I'm not too familiar with Esoctrilihum, even though their name has been all over the avant-garde black metal spheres for the last handful of years. It's kind of hard to pin down what kind of black metal Esoctrilihum actually make as they change back and forth between styles on each album. This time is more traditional black metal, leaning more towards the atmospheric side. The percussion on this record is very intense and reminded me of Mare Cognitum. And with each subsequent track, I'm reminded by how much more I enjoyed MC. I found this record to run musically flat on ideas with very little variety between the tracks. I also found the vocals to be more distracting than enjoyable. I am reminded of the Fallen featured release for the month, Quintiscent and how those distorted vocals complimented the instrumentals, whereas this is more the focal point.

This record is fine, but hardly a great one. I found myself trying to vibe with it on more than one occasion, but ended up getting distracted by outside noise as most of it sounds painfully repetitive. Mare Cognitum is able to create a more expansive world without symphonic elements  than Saopth's. 

6/10

To describe French one-man bm outfit Esoctrilihum as being industrious is quite an understatement. Since 2017, Asthâghul has released eight albums and three EPs. This level of prolific activity is hardly unheard of but is certainly not the norm. Reading a few interviews with him around the web this morning Asthâghul has a very specific mindset he exists within to allow his creative juices to flow and based on the frequency of his output he does not find it very difficult to get into the zone.

Released a little under a couple of months ago (at the time of writing this review at least), Saopth’s continues Asthâghul’s journey into the symphonic, the avant-garde and the lo-fi black metal elements of his music. I will go on record early on in this review in noting that there is a lot to take in here. As someone who is not really that interested in avant-garde metal this maybe more of an individual struggle as opposed to a more widespread challenge for any fan of the sub-genre. Fortunately, there is enough variety within Esoctrilihum’s music to retain enough of the more extreme elements that are more attractive to my palate.

I am not even going to attempt to talk about individual tracks here as that is firstly an impossible task (for me at least) and secondly would be an injustice to the whole release when viewed as a singular piece of art. I can only focus on the whole album as the consistency of the performance breeds the familiarity I need to connect with it superbly. One of the major strengths of Saopth’s forty-three plus minutes its clever use of keyboards and synthesisers. They draw an ethereal and eerie picture that is equal part dungeon synth and symphonic black metal also. They are like an icy cold hand to hold throughout the album, caressing your palm during the albums more bizarre moments whilst all the while guiding you through the maelstrom that is all the component parts of the album.

Vocally, Asthâghul adopts a rasping kind of lunacy in his style that is the perfect accompaniment to the music. Sat in the mix, well layered behind the keys and the guitars and drums they embody a real sense of struggle. There are times however when it all does get too much, where no amount of mixing and mastering prowess can balance all the elements in any sense of equilibrium and as a result sections of some tracks sound like they are damaged parts of the tape to my ears which is not a pleasant experience in all honesty. I cannot deny however that Saopth’s entertained me and although I am unlikely to have much desire to revisit this for further unpicking, there is no denying the effort and talent involved in this release.

3.5/5