Karzahni

“It's a warning. It reads something like this...'This is a realm of shadow...of famine and plague and blight...This is a world of darkness...and there is no place for light.'”
--Hahli, BIONICLE Legends 2: Dark Destiny

You might be wondering why I prefaced this review with an excerpt from a novel written for a line of LEGO toys. Two reasons; the first is that it perfectly summarizes the overall sound and feel of this EP, and the second is that it relates to this project's namesake. I'm not gonna bore you with "Le Deep Bonkle LoreTM", so I'm just gonna keep it simple and say that Karzahni is the name of a location in Bionicle that's basically its own equivalent to Hell in a sense, the name of the ruler of said location, which was named after him, and apparently also a plant that Makuta Teridax created as a prototype to the Morbuzakh, but then tossed away because it was too independent for his liking. Namesake aside, the EP's artwork also seems to further infer Bionicle as being the source of its inspiration, as it depicts the coast of an island where six Toa canisters might wash up on. I know most you probably still won't know what in the seven hells I'm even talking about, but fuck it, there's really no other way to do so without delving ballsdeep into the lore of a long discontinued line of buildable action figures. If you do happen to know, then cool, you just wasted your time reading this entire paragraph.

Anyways, that's enough reveling in my childhood, let's talk about the actual content of the music itself. In a nutshell, the music is symphonic/melodic black metal that also has quite a bit of atmosphere to it, like a cross between early Cradle of Filth, Dark Fortress, and Old Man's Child. Although I mentioned CoF, there isn't really any gothic elements, or any of the quirks that you might associate with them present here. Perhaps calling this a "more symphonic Dark Fortress or OMC" would be a more apt comparison.

The production is quite raw and gritty, but not to the point where it sounds like it's coming out of a toilet bowl. Despite the raw and gritty production, everything also sounds pretty clear and audible, and is overall well-mixed and balanced. The vocals are perhaps the rawest and grittiest sounding element here, sounding pretty distorted in an almost lo-fi sort of way, but it doesn't sound bad, or really take away from the overall sound. The riffs and overall compositions of the two songs on this EP are very well written, full of melodic power chords, one string trem pick melodies that's common in Finnish BM, and atmosphere that is enhanced by the symphonic elements and textures. The intro to "...As Annona Fed" has a great buildup and atmosphere that sets the stage, while "Eaters of Life" also starts off strong with its opening riff, with the rhythm and lead guitars, and symphonic elements playing off of each other, with the rest of the song giving off a bleak atmosphere all the way through. Both songs pretty much take me right to the shores of a remote island on the seas of Aqua Magna during twilight, not unlike the EP's cover art; which fulfills my criteria for what makes good black metal in my opinion, and that is black metal that is able to spirit you away to another place when you listen to it.

My biggest gripe is that they did not include the lyrics on the Bandcamp page, which is a real shame, because I'm honestly curious as to what stories they were trying to tell in these songs. I can at least infer that "...As Annona Fed" was most likely inspired by Sahmad's Tale, a small serial set within the Bionicle universe that was told through a podcast that Greg Farshtey hosted on the BionicleStory site back in the day, since the song's title refers to the main antagonist of that serial, which was some kind of Lovecraftian-esque creature that feeds on dreams. Simply put, a very obscure reference that only the biggest of Bionicle nerds would know about. But that's the thing, is the song retelling the story of Sahmad's Tale, or is it about when Annona fought with the Great Beings? I'd honestly love to know. Regardless, with how much of an emphasis on narrative that Bionicle was well-known for back in the day, I find it odd that the person behind this project didn't bother to include the lyrics at all. Other than that, I felt that "Eaters of Life" has too abrupt of an ending, since the song just suddenly ends seemingly unresolved. Maybe I'm just being nitpicky with this one, since it could very well be an artistic choice, but I also just have no fucking clue because there's no lyrics to give me any context.

All in all, this is EP is a very hidden and underground gem, much like its namesake in Bionicle lore, but even if you don't know just what the hell a Bionicle is, or simply don't give a shit, I'd still recommend this to anyone who likes their black metal gritty, melodic, and atmospheric, because as a work of art and music, it stands pretty strongly on its own merits regardless of its apparent source of inspiration. This EP is apparently a "small preview of what's to come later this year(?)" according to the EP's Bandcamp page, but considering that this was released last year, I'm not sure if I should be holding my breath for any more material from this project, and that is honestly a damn shame, because there's a lot of potential here that may very well go unrealized. If that does end up being the case, then it will ironically share its fate with the very same thing that inspired it in the first place, since Bionicle also wound up suffering an abrupt cancellation at some point during its glorious decade long lifespan, and once again, I ended up showing up late to the party right when it had very well already ended. But hey, it's the fleeting things in life that we must treasure the most, whether they are beloved childhood toy franchises, or awesome independent metal projects that release one EP and then suddenly disappear.