ARKHAAIK – UIHTIS

(Andy Synn rejoins the hunt with the new album from Arkhaaik)

One of the things we sometimes discuss amongst ourselves, here in the dark, dank depths of NCS Castle, is what the primary, prevailing “trend” of each year is.

And one thing I’ve noticed over the last seven-ish months is that – rather than being a straight up “Black Metal year” or a “Death Metal year” (or even a “Hardcore year”) – 2025 looks set to be a year defined more by the more unorthodox and unusual expressions from across the genre spectrum.

In some ways this, of course, makes it hard to identify a singular commonality which defines “the year in Metal” (so far, anyway)… but, from a different perspective, you might just say that this flexing and blurring of fluid genre boundaries is exactly what ties so many of the biggest and best albums of 2025.

And now we have this uniquely esoteric and ritualistically hypnotic hybrid of “blackened” Doom and deathly gloom courtesy of Switzerland’s Arkhaaik.

As befits its arcane subject matter – exploring both the physical vitality of the hunt and its wider esoteric symbolism during the Bronze Age – Uihtis is as much a spiritual as it is a visceral experience, balancing trance-like ambience (the opening bars of “Geutores Suhnos”, for example, conjure a similarly shadowy vibe to Treha Sektori) against animalistic aggression (the aforementioned opener shifting back and forth between a churning, wounded grind and a rabid, wild-eyed gallop).

It’s a defiantly distinct sound, that’s for certain – especially when you take into account the deviantly discordant, pseudo-melodic hooks of “Hagrah Gurres” or the coarse combination of brutish bellows and grating gutturals which makes up the album’s vocal spectrum –  and while comparisons can be made, here and there, to the grim intensity of Monotheist-era Celtic Frost and the sheer sonic density of The Ruins of Beverast (with perhaps even a touch of the imperious grandiosity of Behemoth and/or Sulphur Aeon during the likes of “HrkÞos Heshr Hiagom”), the band’s second album resolutely stands on its own two (or six) feet even on first listen.

And while there’s no question that Uihtis is capable of immediately engaging the listener on an instinctive, intuitive level – for all its immersively atmospheric ambitions it possesses a sense of raw, electrifying energy that’s difficult (if not impossible) to resist – it’s arguably just as (if not more) rewarding to take the time to really dig into its depths, as each of these four lengthy and complex compositions comprises a multitude of richly textured layers that are a continuous pleasure to peel back and explore as the album goes on.

Is there still room for further growth and exploration? Perhaps (the sombre and subdued mid-section of “Kerhos Mehnsos” suggests, if anything, that the band would be wise to make even more of their moodiest and most minimalist inclinations, so as to expand the range of their doom-laden, dark/light dynamic even further), but as it stands what Arkhaaik have made here is a little bit of magic, equal parts primal and progressive, that will no doubt make its presence known on a number of “Best Of…” lists come the end of the year.