{"title":"Këkht Aräkh @ct@if@band-music-10735@","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-pale-swordsman-cd","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003eKëkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko.\u003cbr\u003eOriginally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goes to even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges' Raw Power to deliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less \"metal\". Traditional black metal song structures still persist in songs like \"Night Descends\" and \"In The Garden\". However, their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in \"Amor\" and \"Intro\" and softly played desolate ballads like \"Nocturne\" and \"Lily\". The crown jewel is the album closer \"Swordsman\", a track that displays a superb gothic sensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. \"The Christian concept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able to leave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song.\" Dmitry explains \"However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyrics so that the listener can always give the song their own meaning.\" The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. \"I really enjoy it when an album tells a story about some character so I came up with one.\" says Dmitry when explaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the striking album cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand - and clearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty that permeates the album's sound and atmosphere. Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics, soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yet potent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53031548617001,"sku":"P-65666-","price":14.78,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Pale-Swordsman-CD-65666-1-1771345201.jpg?v=1778076201"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-morning-star-lp","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Morning Star - LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eMorning Star finds Këkht Aräkh arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself. Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with immersive, textured soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. Since his origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the project, has sought a distinctive path within black metal. This vision unfolded through his debut Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) and the albums Night \u0026amp; Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), establishing a signature tension between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads. On Morning Star, this dynamic reaches new depth. Created at a point of artistic clarity, the album explores a rawer, more personal emotional palette, shaped by stress, anxiety, and long stretches of writer's block, giving it rare immediacy and vulnerability. Dmitry recorded nearly all instruments himself, with drums by Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee contributed vocals and co-wrote lyrics on \"Eternal Martyr,\" an unexpected collaboration that reveals intuitive chemistry. VS-55 and Varg2™ add abstract sampling and subtle textural design, giving Morning Star it's distinctive grain and analog warmth, while James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) handled final mastering, enhancing dynamic depth and atmospheric richness. Several tracks revisit earlier material with fresh perspectives. \"Wänderer\" and \"Drömsång\" are partially rerecorded or fully reimagined. Intense, driving passages collide with sparse, contemplative interludes, producing a landscape both visceral and haunting. Themes of isolation and wandering surface in \"Wänderer,\" dreamlike melancholy in \"Drömsång,\" existential struggle in \"Angest,\" and reflections on time and transformation in \"Three winters away.\" With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi warmth, melancholic melodies, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. The result is a deeply personal statement-an album that is both an arrival and a continuation of his artistic journey\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53031559627049,"sku":"P-65693-","price":22.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Morning-Star-LP-65693-1-1773581985.jpg?v=1778076335"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-morning-star-cd","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Morning Star - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003eMorning Star finds Këkht Aräkh arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself. Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with immersive, textured soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. Since his origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the project, has sought a distinctive path within black metal. This vision unfolded through his debut Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) and the albums Night \u0026amp; Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), establishing a signature tension between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads. On Morning Star, this dynamic reaches new depth. Created at a point of artistic clarity, the album explores a rawer, more personal emotional palette, shaped by stress, anxiety, and long stretches of writer's block, giving it rare immediacy and vulnerability. Dmitry recorded nearly all instruments himself, with drums by Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee contributed vocals and co-wrote lyrics on \"Eternal Martyr,\" an unexpected collaboration that reveals intuitive chemistry. VS-55 and Varg2™ add abstract sampling and subtle textural design, giving Morning Star it's distinctive grain and analog warmth, while James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) handled final mastering, enhancing dynamic depth and atmospheric richness. Several tracks revisit earlier material with fresh perspectives. \"Wänderer\" and \"Drömsång\" are partially rerecorded or fully reimagined. Intense, driving passages collide with sparse, contemplative interludes, producing a landscape both visceral and haunting. Themes of isolation and wandering surface in \"Wänderer,\" dreamlike melancholy in \"Drömsång,\" existential struggle in \"Angest,\" and reflections on time and transformation in \"Three winters away.\" With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi warmth, melancholic melodies, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. The result is a deeply personal statement-an album that is both an arrival and a continuation of his artistic journey\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53031559921961,"sku":"P-65692-","price":13.61,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Morning-Star-CD-65692-1-1773582007.jpg?v=1778076345"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-morning-star-lp-colored","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Morning Star - LP COLORED","description":"\u003cp\u003eMorning Star finds Këkht Aräkh arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself. Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with immersive, textured soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. Since his origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the project, has sought a distinctive path within black metal. This vision unfolded through his debut Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) and the albums Night \u0026amp; Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), establishing a signature tension between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads. On Morning Star, this dynamic reaches new depth. Created at a point of artistic clarity, the album explores a rawer, more personal emotional palette, shaped by stress, anxiety, and long stretches of writer's block, giving it rare immediacy and vulnerability. Dmitry recorded nearly all instruments himself, with drums by Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee contributed vocals and co-wrote lyrics on \"Eternal Martyr,\" an unexpected collaboration that reveals intuitive chemistry. VS-55 and Varg2™ add abstract sampling and subtle textural design, giving Morning Star it's distinctive grain and analog warmth, while James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) handled final mastering, enhancing dynamic depth and atmospheric richness. Several tracks revisit earlier material with fresh perspectives. \"Wänderer\" and \"Drömsång\" are partially rerecorded or fully reimagined. Intense, driving passages collide with sparse, contemplative interludes, producing a landscape both visceral and haunting. Themes of isolation and wandering surface in \"Wänderer,\" dreamlike melancholy in \"Drömsång,\" existential struggle in \"Angest,\" and reflections on time and transformation in \"Three winters away.\" With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi warmth, melancholic melodies, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. The result is a deeply personal statement-an album that is both an arrival and a continuation of his artistic journey\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53031560413481,"sku":"P-65691-","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Morning-Star-LP-COLORED-65691-1-1773581851.jpg?v=1778076355"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-morning-star-tape","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Morning Star - TAPE","description":"\u003cp\u003eMorning Star finds Këkht Aräkh arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself. Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with immersive, textured soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. Since his origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the project, has sought a distinctive path within black metal. This vision unfolded through his debut Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) and the albums Night \u0026amp; Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), establishing a signature tension between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads. On Morning Star, this dynamic reaches new depth. Created at a point of artistic clarity, the album explores a rawer, more personal emotional palette, shaped by stress, anxiety, and long stretches of writer's block, giving it rare immediacy and vulnerability. Dmitry recorded nearly all instruments himself, with drums by Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee contributed vocals and co-wrote lyrics on \"Eternal Martyr,\" an unexpected collaboration that reveals intuitive chemistry. VS-55 and Varg2™ add abstract sampling and subtle textural design, giving Morning Star it's distinctive grain and analog warmth, while James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) handled final mastering, enhancing dynamic depth and atmospheric richness. Several tracks revisit earlier material with fresh perspectives. \"Wänderer\" and \"Drömsång\" are partially rerecorded or fully reimagined. Intense, driving passages collide with sparse, contemplative interludes, producing a landscape both visceral and haunting. Themes of isolation and wandering surface in \"Wänderer,\" dreamlike melancholy in \"Drömsång,\" existential struggle in \"Angest,\" and reflections on time and transformation in \"Three winters away.\" With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi warmth, melancholic melodies, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. The result is a deeply personal statement-an album that is both an arrival and a continuation of his artistic journey\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53031608221993,"sku":"P-65872-","price":13.61,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Morning-Star-TAPE-65872-1-1773581953.jpg?v=1778077071"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-night-love-cd","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Night + Love - CD","description":"\u003cp\u003eKëkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. The debut album Night \u0026amp; Love was initially released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2019 and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. Dmitry's intent to experiment with standard black metal canons previously seen at play in Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) solidify further on Night \u0026amp; Love, he mentions \"back then I had an idea of combining Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger type of black metal with early Internazionale or Croatian Amor vibe.\" Described as ambient or atmospheric black metal, this debut presents Këkht Aräkh's signature dichotomy of harsh traditional early Norwegian black metal and the more ethereal and delicate melodies. On the other hand the lyrics are romantic and melancholic, clearly influenced by a stark Gothic imagery, and serve as an extra layer of mystery to the already suggestive body of work. The album beings with a soft acoustic intro in \"As the Night Falls... \" before descending into the raw and raucous \"Elegy for the Memory of Me\" and \"Den Venstre Hånd På Den Høyre\", both songs that are drenched in the more traditional black metal style of raspy, high-pitched vocals, dense, tremolo- picked riffs and fast paced drums. It is however songs like \"Night\" and \"Love\" that really set this album apart. \"Night\" is a softly spoken word ambient track that with a beautiful piano synth work that permeates throughout it aids in the romantic delivery and conjuring of imagery of the night. \"Love\" is a spellbinding and melancholic song, equal in it's romanticism but one that displays a deeper sorrow and tenderness supported by calming field recordings of trickling water. The intertwining of black metal, dark folk and ambient repeats itself, culminating in a quietly hummed outro \"... And Never Ends (Eternal Love)\" that alludes to and completes the album's first track.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53170642747689,"sku":"P-65667-","price":14.77,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Night-Love-CD-65667-1-1675125046.jpg?v=1778701850"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-night-love-lp","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Night + Love - LP","description":"\u003cp\u003eKëkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko. The debut album Night \u0026amp; Love was initially released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2019 and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. Dmitry's intent to experiment with standard black metal canons previously seen at play in Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) solidify further on Night \u0026amp; Love, he mentions \"back then I had an idea of combining Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger type of black metal with early Internazionale or Croatian Amor vibe.\" Described as ambient or atmospheric black metal, this debut presents Këkht Aräkh's signature dichotomy of harsh traditional early Norwegian black metal and the more ethereal and delicate melodies. On the other hand the lyrics are romantic and melancholic, clearly influenced by a stark Gothic imagery, and serve as an extra layer of mystery to the already suggestive body of work. The album beings with a soft acoustic intro in \"As the Night Falls... \" before descending into the raw and raucous \"Elegy for the Memory of Me\" and \"Den Venstre Hånd På Den Høyre\", both songs that are drenched in the more traditional black metal style of raspy, high-pitched vocals, dense, tremolo- picked riffs and fast paced drums. It is however songs like \"Night\" and \"Love\" that really set this album apart. \"Night\" is a softly spoken word ambient track that with a beautiful piano synth work that permeates throughout it aids in the romantic delivery and conjuring of imagery of the night. \"Love\" is a spellbinding and melancholic song, equal in it's romanticism but one that displays a deeper sorrow and tenderness supported by calming field recordings of trickling water. The intertwining of black metal, dark folk and ambient repeats itself, culminating in a quietly hummed outro \"... And Never Ends (Eternal Love)\" that alludes to and completes the album's first track.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53270494576937,"sku":"P-52800-","price":22.22,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Night-Love-LP-52800-1-1675125037.jpg?v=1781642431"},{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-pale-swordsman-lp-colored","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman - LP COLORED","description":"\u003cp\u003eOriginally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goes to even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges' Raw Power to deliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less \"metal\". Traditional black metal song structures still persist in songs like \"Night Descends\" and \"In The Garden\". However, their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in \"Amor\" and \"Intro\" and softly played desolate ballads like \"Nocturne\" and \"Lily\". The crown jewel is the album closer \"Swordsman\", a track that displays a superb gothic sensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. \"The Christian concept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able to leave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song.\" Dmitry explains \"However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyrics so that the listener can always give the song their own meaning.\" The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. \"I really enjoy it when an album tells a story about some character so I came up with one.\" says Dmitry when explaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the striking album cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand - and clearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty that permeates the album's sound and atmosphere. Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics, soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yet potent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Season of Mist - North America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53270498705705,"sku":"P-52803-","price":23.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0952\/9219\/5113\/files\/Kekht-Arakh-Pale-Swordsman-LP-COLORED-52803-1-1675125708.jpg?v=1781642502"}],"url":"https:\/\/shopusa.season-of-mist.com\/collections\/band-music-kekht-arakh.oembed","provider":"Season of Mist - North America","version":"1.0","type":"link"}