Avichi - The Divine Tragedy

The Divine Tragedy is the third release from Numen Malevolum Barathri, and the debut for Illinois' Avichi. "Avichi" comes from the Sanskrit for "waveless," and describes the lowest level of hell, though not in the Christian sense. It is more like purgatory, an area of indefinite stay and intense desire and thus suffering. The concept occurs in Buddhism and certain strains of occultism.

Messianic Deliverance
Prayer for Release

Ambitious, then, for a project to adopt this name. Avichi is a one-man band, featuring Aamonael on everything except session drums, which Xaphar handles. Aamonael did time in Nachtmystium, but Avichi eschews Nachtmystium's experimental tendencies in favor of straight black metal. Only half of these eight tracks have vocals. Appropriately, they deal with metaphysical issues: "Since my spirit may not find rest / I will inflict my pain upon everything in creation." Aamonael is probably coming from an occult angle, but it's a perfect characterization of the Buddhist "hungry ghost."

This record has extremely strong production. It's not exactly clean or polished, as guitars still form clouds more than riffs. But the sound is huge, perhaps a product of recording at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio. Vocals tunnel into the distance with ominous reverb. Drums are quite crisp. Xaphar turns in tasty, subtle grooves, particularly on the record's latter half, which stretches out with instrumentals and slow, jangly guitars. The overall effect is not so "necro," but Aamonael's more concerned about higher (or lower) things.

The Divine Tragedy is available at Numen Malevolum Barathri, Salvation Distro, Tour de Garde, and Relapse.