Ahead of its official release on July 5th, oneiric Black Metal force-of-nature AKHLYS present the full stream of their new album. “House of the Black Geminus” is a display of frightening dominance. Combining intense Black Metal with elements of Dark Ambient and Death Industrial, AKHLYS unite psychological horror, orchestrated bludgeon and eerie foreboding on a harrowing journey into pandemonic majesty.

Mastermind Naas Alcameth (AORATOS, NIGHTBRINGER) relays the concept behind this sinister work:

“Like its predecessors, “House of the Black Geminus” is based on dreams seen from an esoteric perspective and through the language and symbols of mythology and the occult. This album is more nuanced because it is more particular as a thematic album. It focuses on the symbol of the “house” within this dream context, which serves as an abode where, after ordeal, one meets one’s daemonic reflection or shadow. Dreams are traditionally linked with the underworld, where this house resides. It is structured as three hierarchical levels, mirroring the cosmic structures in ancient mythology and religion: the underworld, the middle, and the celestial above. The house’s cellar represents the underworld, the hearth is the middle abode, and the attic is the celestial. Three different phases of a journey and ordeal occur within the three levels, each with its specific role. It is all very Dante-esque or occult about the “dark night of the soul.“

More detailed info about AKHLYS, Alcameth‘s Art and “House of the Black Geminus” can be found via an in-depth interview trilogy with Bardo Methodology. Click here!

The album is set for release across multiple formats – CD, vinyl, tape, and digital – on July 5th. Various merch designs will accompany the launch. Orders are available through the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp stores.

AKHLYS will embark on the “House of the Black Geminus” European tour from July 26th. Having honed their live performances through extensive recent touring, AKHLYS will also deliver a specially-extended set at DMP‘s inaugural Servants of Chaos festival this October. Do not miss this intense spectacle of nightmarish Black Metal magick. Find all info here, all tour dates below and on the flyer.

26.07.2024 – Vienna, Austria – Escape
27.07.2024 – Budapest, Hungary – Supersonic – Blue Hell & KVLT
28.07.2024 – Košice, Slovakia – Collosseum Club Košice
29.07.2024 – Wroclaw, Poland – TBA
30.07.2024 – Berlin, Germany – Urban Spree
01.08.2024 – Bergen, Norway – Beyond The Gates
02.08.2024 – Oslo, Norway – Revolver
03.08.2024 – Stockholm, Sweden – Hus 7 (Slaktkyrkan)
04.08.2024 – Göteborg, Sweden – The Abyss
05.08.2024 – TBC
06.08.2024 – TBC
07.08.2024 – Aarburg, Switzerland – Musigburg
08.08.2024 – Mörlenbach, Germany – LIVE MUSIC HALL Weiher
09.08.2024 – Josefov, Czech Republic – Brutal Assault 
10.08.2024 – Schlotheim, Germany – Party.San Metal Open Air 
18.-19.10.2024 – Oberhausen, Germany – Servants of Chaos Festival

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 is scheduled for release July 5th, 2024.

Following 2020’s widely-worshipped “Melinoë“, US Oneiric Black Metal band AKHLYS return triumphant with six elaborate and exhilarating new tracks of pure Black Metal terror. “House of the Black Geminus” evokes abyssal nightmares, taking the listener through labyrinthine halls, shadowed corridors, cellars of dread, and attics of epiphany, as ordeal and ecstasy meet at the vertices where each beholds his own daemon.

Tracklist:

01. The Mask of Night-speaking
02. Maze of Phobetor
03. Through the Abyssal Door
04. Black Geminus
05. Sister Silence, Brother Sleep
06. Eye of the Daemon – Daemon I

The cover artwork was designed by Agostino Arrivabene, Jose Gabriel Alegría Sabogal contributed additional artwork to the booklet. Yurii Kazarian/Into the Abyss Design is responsible for the layout.

“House of the Black Geminus” was recorded at Promethean Forge Studios between March 2022 and January 2024. Dave Otero (COBALT, NIGHTBRINGER, CATTLE DECAPITATION) tracked the drums, mixed and mastered at Flatline Audio in January 2024. Additional engineering was performed by Mike Low.

As a mesmeric introduction to their upcoming fourth album, “House of the Black Geminus,” US Black Metal band AKHLYS unveil intricate new composition, ‘Sister Silence, Brother Sleep‘. Over nine minutes, composer Naas Alcameth fuses relentless, ferocious guitars, intense blast beats and sharply piercing vocals, creating a soundscape both relentless and eerily ominous. The addition of haunting dark ambient tones and melodious interludes add layers of complexity to elevate this powerfully sinister piece.

Alcameth describes the genesis of ‘Sister Silence, Brother Sleep‘:

“”Sister Silence, Brother Sleep‘ holds a special place for me as the opening riff to the song was the first riff I wrote for the album. At the time of writing this riff, I had yet to begin working towards composing the album. I had come up with this riff that stuck with me and became the opening to the track. That opening resonated with me so profoundly that I saw it as the key that opened wide the gate to the rest of the composition. Everything after just flowed in a nearly frantic succession of inspiration. I wouldn’t say that I changed my approach to writing, at least from a technical perspective, but that the muse that drives it all has adorned a new mask, shifting atmosphere, tone, and, ultimately, the imagined images invoked by the compositions.“

AKHLYS‘ fourth long player, “House of the Black Geminus“, is set for release via Debemur Morti Productions across multiple formats – CD, vinyl, tape, and digital – on July 5th. Various merch designs will accompany the launch. Pre-orders are available through the label’s EU, US, and Bandcamp stores.

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 is scheduled for release July 5th, 2024.