On October 8th internationally, Amor Fati Productions will release Akolyth’s second album, Ecstatic Kingdom, on CD and vinyl LP formats. And now, the Transmissions From the Dark YouTube channel streams the album in its entirety: Akolyth – Ecstatic Kingdom (album, 2025) [black metal]
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!
