A few years back, Keys to the Astral Gates and Mystic Doors briefly went viral — not for their music, but for their logo. A tangled storm of lines, nearly illegible, suddenly plastered across feeds everywhere; shared, mocked, praised and puzzled over in equal measure. Their debut demo soon followed the same path, haunting timelines for weeks — a curious surge of attention no one really saw coming.
Now that the dust has settled and the internet has moved on to its next obsession, the duo crawls back from the shadows with a new demo: Anathema. A short but deliberate release, two tracks and a sinister interlude — just enough to peer once more into their mystical, cosmic and slightly chaotic universe.
The minds behind this project — answering to the wonderfully deranged names Pit Dweller and Ludwig von Bloodsucker — haven’t changed a thing in terms of sound or production. There is no polish, no modern gloss, no attempt to appeal beyond their enclave. This is the same filthy, swamp-soaked, tape-rotted black metal, scraping through your ears like rusted wire from the very first second.
At times, faint ghosts of Mütilation appear, or the fragile yet raw aura of Ukraine’s Këkht Aräkh. If you can’t handle a sound so unvarnished and unmastered that any hint of refinement would feel like sacrilege, turn back now. This is music that doesn’t ask to be understood — it demands surrender, ideally in darkness.
Short and brutal: this duo proves their viral moment wasn’t just an internet gimmick. Behind that meme-worthy logo lurks a genuine ferocity that refuses to bend, soften or forgive. Anathema may be small in scale, but it’s colossal in grime and conviction.
Now the only question is: which label will have the guts to stir the pot and let these two unleash a full-length? The viral spark was merely the ignition — the real noise hasn’t even begun yet.
75/100