Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath

I try to give each of Esoctrilihum's new releases a fair shake. Wonky, experimental black metal is right up my alley (I'm an enormous fan of Anubi). Yet I can never shake the feeling that Esoctrilihum would be a more than halfway decent artist if he just took one-third of his ideas and made an LP of the best instead of releasing everything that comes to mind. Every year - and sometimes more frequently than that - he releases an album that's an hour-plus with 6-7 minute long tracks that are purported to be challenging but end up being the same style of noodly black metal wank. Unfortunately, Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath continues this trend - and with all the word-salad esotericism you would expect.

To give the project some credit, this LP does sound more experimental than previous releases with the goobly synths and violin. In fact, the violin reminds me a little bit of the Swiss ambient black metal project Paysage d'Hiver - specifically in Geister and the self-titled LP. The violin soars over the black metal, giving this album a couple minutes (though not enough) of genuine immediacy. The mix is a little paunchier this time, which generally fits the music and gives those synths all the time to shine.

And yet paradoxically, this is still a surprisingly loud release. Lots of the criticisms I apply to previous Esoctrilihum releases apply here as well. The constant use of synths gives it an awkward mutedness rather than the spaciousness the song structure deserves - as if Skepticism's Stormcrowfleet were remastered for the loudness wares. The tracks are far too long for their compositions - making it sound like the repetitive nature of tracks like "Agakuh" and "Nominès Haàr" are to fill space rather than to use space. Again, I can't help but feel that they would be so much better served by trimming. The frustrating fade-outs that end pretty much all of the songs make for awkward endings, giving the impression of a strangely unconfident writing style that doesn't quite know how to end things. By halfway into the album, the same mid-tempo black metal and organ-ish synths begin to meld together, which isn't helped by most songs being - once again - the same overextended length.

I want to like this band. On paper, it has everything I want. This still isn't it.

Originally posted to RateYourMusic. Edited for Metal Archives.

It is quite clear that the obscure French project Esoctrilihum is as its best moment. The solo-project leaded by Asthâghul, released only one year ago a vast release untitled 'Eternity of Shaog', which made feel again very interested in this project. This album tastefully mixed the atmospheric nature of its debut CD with the greater experimentation of its later opuses. The album was a long piece of one hour, so I felt surprised when I saw that Esoctrilihum returned with another album, which is even longer, as it lasts around 77 minutes.

Could Asthâghul keep with the great level of inspiration and particularity of its predecessor? Well, the short answer is yes, and this is very impressive. The new opus is entitled ‘'Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath', and it is without any doubt a beast of an album in terms of quality. The album contains tons of excellent melodies and a healthy degree of experimentation, reaching the same balance and the previous album, but maybe with a greater atmospheric touch. For this reason, I consider the new album as the logic successor of 'Eternity of Shaog', but it has nevertheless its own distinctive touch. Aside futile discussion of how different or similar these albums are, this is a demanding piece work due to its details, complexity, and length. On average each song lasts seven minutes and this album has twelve, so you can imagine the amount of work behind it. 'Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath' is by no means a relentless piece of nonsensical fury or a hyper repetitive BSDM album. This is black metal with tons of details, pace variations, excellent arrangements and a perfect equilibrium between relentless fury and slower sections. This album has plenty of details to dig in, but I have to highlight the arrangements as they are simply superb. Songs like "Sahln" or "Agakuh" have astonishingly beautiful violins, which are tremendously touching. It is pure beauty uniquely mixed with excellent riffing, ferocious vocals, and song structures, which flow naturally from slower to mid-temp and to faster sections. The ups and downs in terms of intensity and melodic pulchritude is simply perfect. A song like "Eginbaal" shows that Esoctrilihum can be as heavy as any other band with a smashing rhythmic base, whose smashing double bass makes this song a particularly impressive one. As it happened with the album opener "Ezkihur", this track also has a remarkable work with the keys, which sound absolutely epic and absorbing. As you will appreciate in many moments the experimentation can appear anywhere, and the quite personal guitar melodies in the slowest part of this song shows that Esoctriliihum can mix both aspects of its sound in a natural way. These more bizarre melodies don´t sound out of place, but perfectly integrated in the song. "Dy`th" goes up the level of brutality as it has, again, a smashing work in the drumming part and the most brutal vocals of the album. In any case, it also has a very nice final part with another unique guitar melodies, that give to the song a necessary point of uniqueness, avoiding it to sound out of place. As the album advances, we will notice that each song has its own personality, and it is tastefully composed. You will find more or less brutality depending on it is needed or not, as it happens with the degree of experimentation. In any case, there no weak songs and as it has been, the arrangements are authentically masterful. The violins, the keys, or the organs like the ones we find in "Baal Duthr" are excellent, and you will enjoy each one. Vocally, Asthâghul has a rasped voice but not a high pitched one. His voice sounds rough, like a mid-point between the usual deep growls of death metal and the hight pitched screams of black metal. Anyway, he adapts his performance depending on the song as we hear him including some deeper growls in certain moments, or even clean vocals like it happens in "Baal Duthr", for example. Each instrument, and this includes the vocals, are used in its full potential to create complex and rich compositions, that must be tasted with time and attention.

My logic conclusion is that 'Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath' is an impressive album. There is little chance to complain about this work, maybe the fussy ones would complain about its length, and it is true that this album lasts much more than what I usually want. But believe me, the level inspiration and richness are worth of your time. Give it a chance and enjoy what is an album that shows how to be extreme, beautiful, and experimental at the same time.

Originally written for "www.thepitofthedamned.blogspot.com."

Shrouded in a dark and unfamiliar air, the newest Esoctrilihum manages to stay on track while advancing the audio chaos that we are all familiar with at this point. Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath, for the most part, advances the musicianship and compositional elements from last year’s excellent offering, Eternity of Shaog. However, there are moments on this album that feel like throwbacks to earlier works, such as the Inhüma and Pandaemorthium albums.

There appear to be three different types of tracks going on here… Many songs, such as the first three, tend to have a synth-heavy, bombastic sound that can almost be compared to Summoning, or other bands of a similar sound.

These are in contrast to, but not completely dissimilar from, tracks such as “Baahl Duthr,” “Dy’th,” and “Nominès Haàr.” These songs tend to be heavier, more aggressive, and have a more oppressive atmosphere.

The third type of song incorporates both, and are sometimes jarring, but not in a bad way… Ethereal cosmic landscapes filled with subdued guitars, deeply heavy synths, and violins… and one minute later, you are met with a harsh tremolo-picked landscape with outrageously fast drumming and a seriously violent aura.

“Eginbaal” is a great example of a song with an epic duality. Powerful synths, machine gun drum blasts, heavy guitar riffing, and Asthâghul’s signature venomous rantings start this track out… But, it soon evolves into another beast altogether. Like shifting from one dimension to another, the sound becomes more epic, atmospheric and starts to add a bit of drone to the mix. Truly a great combination of many of the ideas presented here, and a great song for those new to Esoctrilihum.

I’d be remiss to not mention the instrumental track and “Hjh’at,” the outro song. They do their job decently enough, especially the outro, which sounds like a logical conclusion to this masterpiece. That being said, “Craânag,” the instrumental track, seems a bit out of place with zero semblance of metal, besides mood. No guitars, vocals or drums after seven songs of metallic brilliance really threw me off, and it’s not the first time Asthâghul has surprised me with one of these tracks. Great on it’s own? Absolutely. Thrown in two-thirds of the way into this tornado of black abysmal chaos? Meh. It would have made a better intro, if anything.

Besides a small complaint with the instrumental track, this album has managed to progress Esoctrilihum’s sound even further than previous albums have pushed it, and this is very much welcome. The violins, small piano sections, and layered synths give Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath a very unique aura and tone. As usual, the drums are pure insanity, going from all out blasting attacks, to doom-heavy pounding at the drop of a dime. The guitar riffs! Always one of my favorite parts of Esoctrilihum, and though in the background a bit more this time, still drive the songs with absolute riff mastery. Lastly, Asthâghul’s vocals have reached further levels of epicness… Rasps, screams, distorted yells, and even occasional chanted clean vocals are all on display here and add a cosmically horrific ambience to the album. Truly one of my favorite vocalists in black metal as he becomes more proficient at his art.

Esoctrilihum have delivered what very well may be my new favorite release. Every album seems different despite being released so close together, chronologically. Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath has reached a new level, however. I am completely floored by how many times I’ve listened to this beast, and yet, I’m constantly hearing new elements and nuances. It does NOT get old. This would be a great place to start for the new listener as well as for established fans of Asthâghul’s works. I would highly recommend starting with the tracks “Agakuh,” “Dy’th,” and most notably, “Salhn.” Those with open minds and chaos in their hearts will rejoice.

"Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" is the sixth album of the French black metal band Esoctrilihum, or you might even say of a lone Occultist named Asthâghul, because Esoctrilihum is a one-man band. This is a very atmospheric work, ah, the Occult feeling here is so dense that it seems to be palpable, viscous aura draws you in from the very first note. "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" can be described as an amalgam of symphonic black metal and melodic / brutal (yep) death metal, but at the same time it would not be the most correct description, very approximate. Without going into the details and subject matter of the lyrics, suffice it to point out that "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" is topically divided into 4 parts, three songs each. Well, it's kind of like chapters in a novel, but let's try to track the musical progression according to this demarcation.

Perhaps we need to start with the fact that one of Esoctrilihum's favorite passages at a slow pace is the dominant keyboard / synthesizer melody, accompanied by a violent double bass attack. The overlapping drum samples (yes, it's a drum machine) are cracking so much that behind this crackle it is impossible to make out the guitar part quite easily, especially if the palm muting technique (which produces a percussive effect) is used. Sometimes it is impossible even to understand whether there is a guitar in this passage. We are not saying that it is bad, in this particular case, but it is very revealing as an indicator of the production level.

We'll talk more about the guitar sound later, as for the transcription of the bass sound, it does not always work too. At the very least, we did it only at the "Dy'th" beginning, where a dry, tough rhythm reigns, and in the last "Hjh'at" – here you can hear its "clanking" sounds. You can even say that the bass is grunting, yes, it has a sullen role. While the snare drum is booming, with too much delay, well, it sounds strange and unnatural, but at least this peculiarity gives the album's sound some feeling of a damp basement. Well, the production cannot be called poor, it cannot even be called raw, you know, it is a very DIY production with all the ensuing consequences. Thus, you now have a basic understanding of the production on "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath".

So, the "keyboards plus double bass attack" manoeuvre is used throughout the entire album, to the very end, but more often in the first of the four parts. This is one of the reasons why we can conclude from the first three songs that Asthâghul plays mostly at a slow tempo, and his brainchild is rather slowed down symphonic black metal. And although the blast beat, as well as, by the way, tremolo picking, really appears only in the third "Tyurh" (and in any case, this song turns out to be the most black metal-ish in the first part), we immediately warn you that this is an erroneous opinion, symphonic black metal only has to do with the beginning, not the whole album. One might even say that the first three songs are a kind of prolonged and sophisticated intro for "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath".

In addition, judging by the first quarter of the album, except some exceptions the guitar is assigned an auxiliary function. All thanks to the "keyboards plus double bass attack" manoeuvre again. Moreover, the guitar takes on the function of such a backing support even during fast sections – if the keyboard line takes the lead, then the guitar line simply cannot struggle through a blast beat attack. And yet the first part gives a cogent sense of the guitar sound: at the end of "Tyurh" a rhythm guitar line creeps out, and it sounds in splendid solitude (in the right channel only) for a while. Here it becomes clear that it is actually malicious and visceral, almost like in goat black metal. Yes, the guitar sound on "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" is very heavy and powerful, definitely, the guitar always gives the music some kind of hidden threat.

Well, this appearance of the "goat black metal-ish" guitar was done for a reason: forget about symphonic black metal and keyboard lines. The very first song of the "second stage", "Baahl Duthr", in contrast to the previous ones, turns out to be a full-fledged "guitar" song. It has a sophisticated riffage, and it is mainly death metal riffage, this time the keyboards practically do not interfere with the guitar part. It is safe to say that in the next song, "Agakuh", it is the turn of the solos and licks to "take revenge" – yes, this is not their first appearance, but before they were very "modest". An almost full-fledged solo (not a simple looped lick) creeps out at 1:51, it is a bit Bethlehem-like, too bad it's short. But "Eginbaal" is definitely losing the guitar position again, unless when a very hard rhythm section is supplanted by a bewitching solo at 3:15. Nevertheless, the second part shows that the guitar is a very strong and important element of "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath".

In its turn, the third stage demonstrates the diversity of Esoctrilihum's music. "Dy'th" is almost a death metal piece, it is quite brutal death metal, in the vein of Immolation maybe. Most of the song is devoid of the keyboards, only the guitar part sometimes indicates nonnormality of death metal from Esoctrilihum. Only at the end, after a tapping style solo, a little "lazy", we again deal with the "keyboards and double bass attack" symbiosis. However, this is a very aggressive song, the level of anger grows inexorably, and here, for the first time, we can draw an analogy with Anaal Nathrakh. But the next song "Craânag" is a completely ambient / almost martial industrial track, which has something in the spirit of the early Laibach, diluted with a soft symphonic component. "Zhaïc Daemon" can be called more black metal-ish with typical tremolo picks, it is a blast-beat laden black metal phantasmagoria, which is pierced by melodic parts sometimes.

At the fourth stage malice reaches its apogee. "Nominès Haàr" and "Xuiotg" are almost completely filled with grindcore ferocity, and the drum machine's sound is so overdriven here that the "kicks" almost break your speakers, while the guitar part again, as in the very beginning, cannot be deciphered, though the riffs are most likely present here. Yes, a blasting rampage has been encountered before ("Tyurh", "Baahl Duthr", "Eginbaal", "Dy'th", "Zhaïc Daemon"), but here it is elevated to a cult. Maybe "Xuiotg" is even more Anaal Nathrakh-like – because of scorching tremolo riffs and cosmic keyboards Esoctrilihum's grindcore procedure sounds here like some kind of wild industrial experiment. But on the whole, this grindcore madness seems to want to surpass Anaal Nathrakh. Ah, the final "Hjh'at" is almost an ambient track again. As in "Salhn", strange violins, disingenuous and conspiratorial, run the show here. This time they generate some kind of absurd funeral march.

Well, at your leisure, you can compare the lyrics to the musical progression we have just analyzed, and you will understand what's what. We only review music here, but it's understandable that in the case of "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath", music and lyrics are inextricably linked, it's more of a sound novel.

Anyway, the vocals on the album are varied and diversified, to match for the "stages", but strictly within the genre's well-defined boundaries. Whispering, then canonical black metal-ish in the spirit of Graveland or Countess, and then slightly hysterical ("Ezkikur"); strained, like sandpaper on the ears ("Salhn"); almost normal singing – the voice repeats a heavily processed guitar part ("Baahl Duthr"); almost death metal vocals with hysterical and stifled cries ("Agakuh"); classic death metal vocals ("Dy'th"); typical black metal vocals, almost shrieking ("Zhaic Daemon"), incomprehensible screams, then singing again, well, and vocals in the vein of Inquisition ("Nominès Haàr"); a hysterical and strained voice, yes, here Asthâghul even squeals – the degree of psychosis is increasing ("Xuiotg"). You must admit that not every black metal or death metal album contains such a rich spectrum of vocals. Maybe this is a DIY recording, but Asthâghul did a great job.

Yes, when listening to "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" you may get a feeling of chaos and disorder, but actually the riffs are not so badly matched to each other, everything is thought out here according to the idea of the album. Umph, almost all the songs are cut off at the end, the fade-outs are made deliberately careless – such an anti-aesthetics are also bad for the positive perception of the work, well, we guess this schtick was adopted from "true black metal", where comfort is not particularly concerned. In addition, not everyone can withstand such a long and extremely intense album. So take care of yourself, listen to "Dy'th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath" in parts and you will be happy, because the weird charming melodies that fill all the songs really open a portal to another dimension.

The Metal Observer

Even if Asthâghul, the man behind blackened death metal project Esoctrilihum, were only of middling ability in song-writing, musicianship and story-telling, I’ll still be blown away by his work ethic: “Dy’th Requiem for the Serpent Telepath” is Esoctrilihum’s sixth album in four or five years of the project’s existence. As far as I can tell – I haven’t heard all of Esoctrilihum’s output – these albums are very lengthy affairs averaging about an hour’s worth of experimental and highly individual horror-filled Lovecraftian black / death metal fusion. Esoctrilihum’s last album “Eternity of Shaog” featured an eclectic choice of acoustic instruments and progressive rock influences in amongst the black / death epic bombast; this new work has less folk influence but pushes much more into melodic prog-rock and symphonic metal while retaining the core black / death style and the eccentric occult vision that underlies the maximalist music and extreme, often cartoony-looking album front-cover art.

Divided into four sets of three songs each, the album tells a tale of life, death, transformation and rebirth of the central serpentine character Telepath. Right from the start with opening track “Ezkikur”, listeners can tell this work is going to be complex and heavy-going for them as this song alone incorporates epic blasting blackened death and doom metal styles, plenty of orchestral synth wash and melody, violin and plenty of cold ambience. The atmospheres are lush and alien with a distinct decadent feel and the depth of dark mood can be immense thanks to the juxtaposition of hard crunchy extreme metal grit and droning orchestral music. Vocals vary from black metal to death metal, nothing really remarkable there, but no matter how different the musical elements and styles are on “Ezkikur” and on the tracks that follow, everything including the vocals gels together so well and seamlessly. The main new feature is the inclusion of doom metal which allows other aspects of the music, especially the frigid atmospheres, the alien space horror psychedelia and the melodies, to come much more to the fore.

It’s my impression that the second half of the album is much better than the first with more brutal death metal music, slavering reptile vocals and lively energy, and at this point in the album the plot around Telepath thickens so folks could just cut straight from “Ezkikur” and “Salhn” to seventh track “Dy’th” and follow the snaky one’s life-cycle from there. There are more contrasts in the music between tracks and fewer complicated metal / non-metal fusions which make listeners’ journey more interesting if more zigzag between one genre and the next. With less padding, the songs are easier to follow and the mood seems to flow more easily. The standout tracks in this part of the album are “Zhaïc Daemon”, a batshit mindfuck of hyperfast blast-beat percussion, cold-blooded crushed-rocks vocals, unrelenting guitar grinderama and demented orchestral synth backing; and “Xuiotg” using Middle Eastern folk music influence, insane blast-beat rhythms, church organ sounds and cold ambience to create a truly terrifying alien soundscape. Some tracks in this part of the album are also straight-out mood instrumental pieces dominated by piano and orchestra or violin melodies, and listeners may find these tracks very emotional.

In the hands of a lesser artist, this whole work would just manage to hang together and mystify its audience with a confusing set of messages. Asthâghul is no lesser artist: he combines his skills as a song-writer, musician and imaginative story-teller to convey a very dark and bleak tale of existence and the place and purpose of humanity in a universe not only indifferent to it but even hostile to its presence, with a musical soundtrack filled with the strangest sights, the most extraordinary visions of decay and malevolence, the most alien and frigid atmospheres, and insinuations of the presence of the most chillingly inhuman entities. The only problem I have with the album is that it does seem top-heavy with the slowest, doomiest and the less lively music coming first – though I suppose this is to create and build up the world around the Telepath character – while the more interesting and energetic work, streamlined yet still varied, is concentrated in the second half of the album.

At this point in his career with Esoctrilihum, Asthâghul seems incapable of doing anything wrong but he might be advised on future work to trim down the orchestral synth bombast and always remember that the blackened death psychedelic space horror vision - the core of his Esocttrilihum project - always comes first and should inform everyting he does under the project.