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ARKHAAIK “Uihtis”
ARKHAAIK “Uihtis”
By Dr. Abner Mality
The human race right now is the weakest it has ever been. Internet, A.I., television, billions of types of legal drugs and all the other “comforts” of modern life have made us into something completely different than our ancestors of just a few hundred years would recognize. Is there any room at all any more for the primal and raw instincts we once possessed in abundance?
ARKHAAIK from Switzerland says yes. They have found a way to tap into the dawn times of humanity with the power of heavy metal. “Uihtis” has done it. When I listened to this album, I felt something stir deep in me that rarely sees the light of day. A connection to the past before history, when man was just another animal and every day centered around “the hunt”. It’s a rare feeling and we need more of it...before the machine snuffs us out completely.
ARKHAIIK are part of a Swiss conclave of artists called Jǜnger Tumilon. I am surely going to look into more acts from this group. “Uihtis” is composed of four long, interconnected songs that combine primal heavy metal with the sounds of the Neolithic Age. BOLT THROWER and CONAN have some similarities to the MASSIVE, driving approach to the music, but ARKHAAIK have created their own genre. All lyrics and the album title are in the Proto Indo-Euopean language...a tongue which is extinct but which experts have recreated. It has a guttural, straightfoward sound to it. The drumming of Voidgaunt is absolutely tribal...similar to some Viking metal bands but even more stripped and basic. The riffs are just total bulldozers...when mixed with the primitive Indo-Euopean tongue and the tribal drums, the effect is electric and mesmerizing. The band also adds sounds linked to the Neolithic...bone whistles and flutes, rattling percussion, war whoops and hypnotic chants.
The result is you are engulfed by the music and if you have the imagination, you are 10,000 years back in time. All four tracks are compelling, but I played “Hagrah Gurres” 10 times in a row. There just aren’t words to describe the effect it has...the simple notes of an ancient horn summon the spirits of the ancestors. Such a massive, heavy track. Opening cut “Geutores Suhnos” also drives forth like a herd of mammoths crushing the land under their feet. “Hyrkhos Heshr Hiagom” is the shortest and probably least of the tracks, but still potent while the epic “Kehros Mehnsos” brings this hunt to a conclusion wit h the longest tune and the most extensive use of prehistoric instruments and sounds. When the album ends, you feel like you are waking from a racial memory.
I can’t describe ARKHAAIK and “Uihtis” any better. It has to be heard to be understood. Right now, this is in a death duel with HAVUKRUUNU’s “Tavastland” for best record of the year and I think it is pulling ahead. Just a monumental effort in every sense of the word.
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