Acathexis

I'll confess, I only picked up Acathexis's debut LP because I was looking for some new atmospheric black metal and not because of any prior knowledge of the band; I was surprised and pleased to see that Jacob Buczarski, the brilliant composer behind Mare Cognitum, is on drums. I don't know the other two, although they both have a long series of black metal projects to their credit and met while on Fallen Empire Records, but the music is worthy of the international collaboration (USA, Belgium, and Argentina) that this project represents. The tone of Acathexis, although the demos were originally written by Deha, does have a lot in common with the best of Mare Cognitum, though it's darker and more mournful. A beautiful mixing job, layered guitars, and slowly winding melodies are the common denominator of each one of these tracks. Deha's ringing guitar melodies towards the end of Veins Hollowed provides a brief moment of wistful introspection before being swallowed up by the shrieking chaos of their usual sound; even at its most furious, the sound surges ahead towards its conclusion. Dany Tee's shrieks sit comfortably on top of the whole mix, adding an echoing depth that drags out to the limits of human breath. There are only four songs, all of which have different moods ranging from the wistful sorrow of Immurement to the brooding initial riffs of Life Only Festers, which contains a menacing quality absent in the others. The lyrics are nearly as depressive as on a Mgla album, matching Tee's vocal style. Belying this is the music: Deha and Buczarski produce, if not something uplifting, an album that is at least cathartic in its sorrow. Fans of Mare Cognitum and similar atmospheric albums of the melodic, emotional kind will probably like this as much as I did. Bandcamp: https://acathexis.bandcamp.com/album/acathexis.