Metal has long prided itself on acting as an outlet for some of our most primal emotions, namely anger, fear, and undoubtedly hate. Less often do we see metal that delves into a period in which those ancient feelings were beginning to take shape; the idea of returning to our roots in nature is not uncommon (in black metal especially), but there isn’t always a temporal component to these themes. On sophomore album Uihtis (“the hunt”) Swiss trio Arkhaaik explore Bronze Age hunting with a concept album crushingly heavy and overpowering, befitting an unmistakably violent period in human history… where the law of “hunt or be hunted” ruled over all.

If you seek unique, multifaceted black metal, the name Jünger Tumilon is one to remember. This musical collective (formerly known as Helvetic Underground Committee) are the brains behind such great acts as Ungfell, Dahkma, Wyrgher, and many more. The aptly named Arkhaaik is a project combining aspects associated with various extreme metal subgenres into one primordial beast. Call it what you will; black metal, doom metal, atmospheric blackened death doom with ritual ambient characteristics, this is music that transcends mere genre tags in favor of an overall feeling and concept that is much older, and one that needs to be heard to be understood. The term “cavernous” is often applied to a certain style of death doom; Uihtis is the prehistoric ancestor from a time when humans were taking their first steps out of the caves; in this case a more rhythm-oriented and primal energy as opposed to slimy riffs and a raw guitar tone.

Uihtis consists of four 10-15 minute tracks that evolve in a linear fashion, building up to intense blast beats or slowing down into chuggier, even more ferocious rhythm-oriented sections as the concept requires. The album explores hunting in the ancient context as essential for survival — fantastically depicted on the lumbering rhythm of “Hagrah Gures” as tribal hunters stalk a fearsome bear — yet also metaphysically with concepts such as the sun “hunting” the moon (and perhaps the neverending pursuit that death has for life). Tribalistic drums, horns, nature sounds, and eerie choirs characterize the handful of ambient sections, and to further add to the authenticity Arkhaaik had their lyrics reconstructed by an expert on Indo-European languages (I really hope these translations are available on the physical release) to further aid in the immersion.

Uihtis does not have a dearth of riffs, but the guitars of Karapan Darvish don’t exactly play them in the traditional sense; they serve as a rhythmic instrument in their own way, one akin to the more atmospheric tendencies of black metal despite their chunky, death doom nature across the entirety of the album. The rock solid foundation is the thunderous bass of Fauth Temenkeel and ferocious drums of Voidgaunt that guide the guitars between “tribal” beats and more straightforward metal rhythms until the clouds burst into blackened blast sections, the gallops in the final minutes of closer “Kerhos Mehnsos” being a clear highlight. Temenkeel’s distinctive vocal stylings — somewhere between a shout and a roar — and the call-and-response style backing shouts are the final key ingredients to this primordial soup of primitive humanity put in the form of oppressively heavy metal.

If the primeval feelings conjured by Uihtis sound as good as I hope others will find it, I can’t recommend enough T​ä​mpelskl​ä​ng by Ophanim. Also featuring Fauth Temenkeel, it’s a masterpiece of atmospheric black metal that sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard, a grand symphony to an ancient religion that never even existed. I highlight that album as just another example of how consistent the Jünger Tumilon crew are with creating singular, emotive music like few others in black metal (and also as personal penance for not noticing and covering it when released in 2023). Arkhaaik present something even more archaic (naturally), primal, and brutal, but no less impactful. A soundtrack for humanity’s primordial era may not be something you knew you needed, but it’s here and it’s as evocative as it is crushingly heavy.

— Colin

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Uihtis will be available July 25 through Eisenwald. For more information on Arkhaaik (and associated projects), check out the Jünger Tumilon Facebook and Instagram pages.