Swedish entity Malakhim will release their sophomore album And in our hearts the devil sings on the 31st of October through Iron bonehead productions. Already existing for 9 years and just coming with the second full length does not mean the band sits still. They have released the first work called Demo I in 2017, in 2019 they have brought us the EP called II and 2020 saw the birth of the live album Hic rugitus cavernarum terribilis. I was expecting a work called III, but who am I?
It is not until the year 2021 they have brought us their first full length, no, this one is also not called III, but carries the name Theion. It gave us 41 minutes of unorthodox Swedish black metal, a release I am quite fond of. Before we dive into their newest music let’s meet the band:
Not much can be found on the members who are using cryptic names. The only two who I could discover are Andeas Nilsson (or named AN in this band), known as the guitarist for Naglfar, Midvinter and Ancient. The second person is Tommi Konu (TK) known for formerly playing the bass for the Duskfall & Daemonicus. The other members are just known as: E (vocals), AK (guitars) and VT (drums).
The newest album And in our hearts the devil sings is produced by M. Norman with the cover art done by K. Pavleska (Mors Ultima Ratio Art), the artwork for the booklet by Karmazid.
Now on to the music!
It starts quite sober, it is a musical intro that tries to build up the tension of what is to come. After about thirty seconds the music unleashes. Sharp vocals, great riffs and a bass that is trying to move the music forward yet not greatly present. The drums sound like what you may expect from this type of music: Raw yet defined, tight, and fitting its purpose. The mix sounds raw like you would expect but a lot more defined and open sounding than previous work. They really stepped up their game!
This results in a more organic sounding album, the space for everyone’s craft is there. Cold and sharp leads over a steady backbone of tremolo picked guitars, vocals that embrace the cold and not only do so in a screech, occasionally a more haunting clean type of vocals can be heard. If that is not your thing do not be afraid as it is done very scarcely (for my taste they may do this a lot more!).
For more than 43 minutes they deliver a good portion of black metal. The riffs are greatly written, yet I think due to the nature of this sound they produce the tracks seem to sound alike. They are all very good but not a single one stands out, this, of course is personal taste. And maybe I will think differently after a few spins (which this release will get). Do not let that hold you back on enjoying this great album. With the big step up they went from Hic rugitus cavernarum terribilis to this newest, And in our hearts the devil sings, I am looking forward to seeing if they can hold on this line of growth.
82/100
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