Amor Fati Productions announces October 8th as the international release date for Akolyth’s second album, Ecstatic Kingdom, on CD and vinyl LP formats: Akolyth – A Black Torch (taken from the album „Ecstatic Kingdom“)
A still-mysterious entity, Akolyth return five years after their self-titled debut album for Amor Fati. Just as fierce, somber, and ritualistic as Akolyth, Ecstatic Kingdom goes further into the abyss with a rawer, unsettlingly muffled soundfield, as if one were hearing Akolyth’s dread vibrations from a good distance away – and that that Kingdom was also deep underground. Nevertheless, the evocations of early ’90s black metal and clandestine rites roam wilder and loom larger here; the hackle-raising passion and horrid atmosphere form a symbiosis with songwriting that slashes and stifles in equal measure. Truly, Ecstatic Kingdom is a vivid, perhaps-perverse title for its contents; not for nothing is the 39-minute album comprised of four epic-length tracks, with the penultimate being the near-15-minute closer „Without Light,“ also truly titled. Grim and ghastly, the otherworldly black metal on display invokes either possession or immolation, depending on your proclivities – but either way, an even-stronger strike from the infinite dark from Akolyth!
