AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ARAPHEL — “SCENTLESS EPOCH”

(written by Islander)

Samhain is of course a prime occasion for the release of new music in the realms of metal, a time entirely fitting for the emergence of spirits (musical and otherwise) through parted veils that will no longer conceal them. This year one such release is the debut album of the Italian band Araphel, a record named The Endchanter.

It has been an eagerly awaited release in these quarters ever since learning that Araphel‘s veteran lineup includes members of Into Darkness, Thulsa Doom, Black Oath, and Extirpation. The intrigue increased when we read that while the music is rooted in black metal (of varying shades), its themes depart from cliched tropes of the fantastical and instead delve into more human realities and realizations — “a critique of society and the dullness of our lives and rules we are forced to live by.”

We’ll share these further words from the press materials:

To immerse oneself in the album’s lyrics is as engrossing as the music itself. There are no devils, messiahs, or sacrificial horrors here — just reality, resulting in an experience brimming with tragedy and triumph. A raw-yet-poetic reflection on the END — not just of individual existence, but of an entire belief system — Araphel‘s debut album seeks authenticity in a fragmented era, offering a perspective that is clear-eyed, disenchanted, but deeply human. It’s an invitation to reclaim one’s own vision, even if solitary, even if misunderstood: to be guided by nature, silence, and doubt, rather than the deafening voice of false certainties.

To make these perceptions more concrete, what we’re bringing you today is a video for the album track “Scentless Epoch“.

The black-and-white video is a very well-made collage of images. Although it includes glimpses of the band, its main themes concern the thoughtlessness and cruelty of human endeavors, people scurrying like ants through their workdays, engaging in violent conflicts, willingly and unwillingly being brainwashed into shallow but blinding delusions, all of which tend to hollow out a meaningful existence.

The song itself is powerfully affecting, by turns distressing and deeply melancholy. It is melodically cohesive but reveals changing facets, turning like a suspended jewel that shows shifting phases of light and dark but continually sinking its haunting melodies deeper and deeper within listeners as it goes.

Following a spectral kind of overture, a feverish heavy-metal riff executed with dual guitars begins to seize attention, and to spell out the song’s central melody, which then fully flowers and flourishes around blasting percussion. The music seems to writhe in distress even as it gets the blood rushing. The vocals are also blood-pumping, ejecting the words in harsh and furious howls that cut with a serrated edge, lending an element of rage to the torment of the riffing.

As this gem turns Araphel change the rhythmic progressions and the evolution of the melody, segueing from torment to bereavement through a slow-flowing guitar solo that’s heart-breaking at its core, accompanied by more shrill and frantic accompaniment. Araphel also replace those scorching howls with deep, solemn spoken words.

The bass growls solo, surrounded by ambient shimmers, and thus provides a bridge to the grief-stricken wails and desperate trills of another guitar solo, and then onward to another flurry of hammering drums and frantically writhing riffage, and an amalgam of the song’s preceding melodic manifestations. At its close, the song again sounds spectral, but also monastic, like a hallowed chant echoing in ruined halls.

Maybe with a scalpel you could cut this song out of your head, but otherwise we predict it will stay with you for a while.

ARAPHEL – The Endchanter Lineup:
Santo – vocals, bass, acoustic guitar
Doomed Warrior – backing vocals, guitars
Gabriel – backing vocals, guitars
Okrim – drums (session)

The Endchanter was recorded at ADRS Decibel by Carlo Meroni, and it was mixed and mastered by Marco Vermiglio at The Forge Music Productions. It will be released by NWN! Productions on October 31st. For more info, check the links below — and also listen to The Endchanter‘s title track, which opens the album.

MORE INFO:
https://nuclearwarnowproductions.bandcamp.com/album/the-endchanter
https://www.facebook.com/p/Araphelofficial-61562871221927/
https://araphel.bandcamp.com