Kekht Arakh - Pale Swordsman

Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko.Originally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goesto even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it's nowseeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones.For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges' Raw Power todeliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less "metal". Traditional black metal songstructures still persist in songs like "Night Descends" and "In The Garden". However,their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in"Amor" and "Intro" and softly played desolate ballads like "Nocturne" and "Lily".The crown jewel is the album closer "Swordsman", a track that displays a superb gothicsensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. "The Christianconcept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able toleave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song." Dmitry explains"However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyricsso that the listener can always give the song their own meaning."The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie's TheRise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. "I really enjoy it when analbum tells a story about some character so I came up with one." says Dmitry whenexplaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the strikingalbum cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand - andclearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty thatpermeates the album's sound and atmosphere.Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics,soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yetpotent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.