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The veil parts once again as AKHLYS premiere a new visual manifestation for the track ‘Ephialtes‘. Taken from 2020’s abyssal masterpiece “Melinoë“, this haunting piece is brought to life by artist Chthonia who amplifies the intensity, mirroring the lyrical descent into terror and a nightmarish transformation of the inner self!

“Take me below
This terror extolled
Raise me upon madness
That throne of old

Bestower of panic
Father of All-fright
Ecstatic mad furor
Clothed in midnight” (‘Ephialtes’)

AKHLYS mainman Naas Alcameth (NIGHTBRINGER, BESTIA ARCANA) comments:

“‘Ephialtes‘ is represented as an invocation of the nocturnal double, encountered within the liminal threshold between waking and dreaming. The song speaks of a confrontation with an ‘other’ that is both mirror and master, initiator and adversary, through which the self undergoes an ecstatic displacement and is symbolically re-crowned through terror. The concept of dread as revelation is at the heart of the matter, the ‘mysterium tremendum et fascinans’, where the sacred manifests as something that is simultaneously fascinating and dreadful.“

‘Ephialtes‘ is a central threshold within “Melinoë“, articulating the themes of dream-states, nightmarish images, and esoteric philosophy that define the project’s singular vision. Check out further visual evocations created by Chthonia for ‘The Mask of Night-Speaking‘, ‘The Dreaming Eye‘, ‘Maze of Phobetor‘ and ‘Through the Abyssal Door‘ on AKHLYS‘ YouTube channel!

AKHLYS was formed 2009 by Naas Alcameth (NIGHTBRINGER, AORATOS, BESTIA ARCANA) as a musical expression for the inexplicable visions, journeys and phenomena that occur in liminal lands between slumber and awakening. Initially exploring these concepts via Dark Ambient in debut “Supplication” (2009) and then haunting Black Metal through lauded follow-up “The Dreaming I” (2015), Alcameth has once again reified and rarefied this vision, giving rise to a third and crowning work, “Melinoë“, which was released in December 2020.

Earning widespread acclaim for their live performances, AKHLYS secured a partnership with Parasite Gallows Booking in 2022. Amidst numerous tours and festival appearances in Europe, Israel, Latin America and the United States, the recent years have also witnessed the crafting of new compositions destined for the band’s fourth album. Titled “House of the Black Geminus,” this much-anticipated release was released July 5th, 2024.