Shibalba: Stars Al-Med Hum (2018)

It is quite safe to say that in many ways this is a very unusual album indeed. Formed by members of Greek and Swedish black metal bands, Acherontas and Nåstrond, it has a focus on expressing shamanic, trance-like states. New Age mixing with ambient Black Metal anyone? Not only do they utilise synthesisers and guitar drones but also bring Tibetan horns & singing bowls, bone & horn trumpets, darbukas, ceremonial bells & gongs as well as percussion instruments made of bones and skulls. There is a deep underswelling, a feeling that while the mind may be relaxing it is actually being lulled into something with is sinister and quite dangerous.

Co-founder Acherontas V. Priest commented (original spelling): “The Secret Society of Shibalba dives deep into the unmapped Astral oceans and corridors of Stars Al-Med Hum. Orchestrating a journey to the most obscure spheres beyond human perception, the pathways of otherworldly ingression and ecstasy, a newborn entity is brought to the Light. A soundtrack to the sexual Tantric Magick Meditation and a Sinister vocalization of the darkest corners of the psyche, as the Adept ascends to the astral worlds, the ones below and the ones above, within trances of lucid slumber and Inner awakening. Planes of All and Nought, envisioned by impulses and vibrations while the disciples of the sonic architects are dancing to invoke the sabbatical names of unspeakable Goddesses of the Moon. Kundalini and Brahmanic theurgy combined to solar and lunar atoms ascending and entwined around the spinal medulla, projecting the soul by mantras sacred and ancient, to the Astral worlds of Stars Al-Med Hum”.

There are times it reminds me of Mongolian hunnu rock band The Hu, with a tribal feeling far removed from the normal Western style of music, yet somehow also feeling incredibly familiar. This is ambient black metal being given a twist which works incredibly well indeed.

Rating: 8/10