KHÔRA 
Ananke

The second album by the previously one-man band Khôra, who unleashed their impressive debut, Timaeus, back in 2020. This newest album, Ananke, is themed around the story of the Goddess of Fate and Circumstances in Greek religion. Even though the band is categorized as atmospheric black metal, the progressive tones across the album are noticeable, particularly as it relates to the keyboard and orchestral elements, which bind together raw black metal with the mythological themes. ‘Empyreal Spindle’ brings us an intro with traditional black metal drums, and little use of clean vocals, which was a pleasant surprise since it compliments the growling very well.

‘Legion Of The Moirai’, ‘Wrestling With The Gods’, and ‘In The Throes Of Ascension’ keep to the structure defined in the intro with traditional black metal drums and the use of more complex guitar riffs which makes things quite interesting. To me, the growl and clean vocal combinations sound similar to what Borknagar did with True North, and I find it very appealing, as it helps maintain interest throughout all the songs. ‘Arcane Creation’ sets an orchestral pause right in the middle of the album, only to be followed by ‘On A Starpath’, which is probably the “lightest” song found on the album with a very keyboard-dominant ending.

After these, so to speak, “calmer” songs, comes the super fast-paced ‘The Sentinel’, which has a bit of a black/punk feel to it. The middle part of the song reminds me of a band like Akercocke. ‘Supernatural Light’ is the third to last song on the album; by this point, I found myself deeply into it. I think the variations with the orchestral themes keep the album interesting to the listener, also, the vocal work with easily understandable growling makes listening to the story being told more enjoyable. ‘Crowned’ is the penultimate song, with predominantly clean vocals, as well as being the longest song on the album. ‘Q.E.D.’ is an instrumental outro celebrating the victory that was achieved by the storytellers. I think it could have worked having ‘Q.E.D.’ aligned with ‘Crowned’ as a single song, but that is just my humble opinion.

All in all, this is a very interesting album, both on theme and music. It is especially recommended for people who enjoy bands such as Arcturus, Borknagar, early Dimmu Borgir, Stormkeep, and the like. The keyboard-heavy songs and orchestral arrangements are definitely not for everyone, which might make this album a big miss for people looking for a more traditional black metal experience.