Aran Angmar – Atavism & Dying Stars

Written by on 27-02-2025 at 11:43.

I have no idea how they who go by the names Maahes and Lord Abagor met each other, but the first (Greek by birth) knows his way around the guitar and the other (born in the Netherlands) provides and provided sounds with his throat for bands such as Saille, Evil Oath, Morvigor and Yaotzin. Together they decided to start a black metal band. After a first album in 2021, Atavism & Dying Stars was released in 2023.

To make this team even more international and to make sure the weekly trip to the rehearsal room gets impossible, Aran Angmar has been expanded with two Italians: Alessandro Cupici on drums and Simone Esperti on bass. The gentlemen serve their black metal clear and clean with a lot of attention to melody, in the style of Dissection and Dimmu Borgir (but without the keyboard parts) while occasionally a dash of Septicflesh and Rotting Christ comes along: Maahes must have been infected with it while growing up. Singer/bassist Seth Siron Anton of Septicflesh provided the cover art of the album, so Northern and Southern Europe came together beautifully.

Aran Angmar has two enormous advantages: the strong guitar playing of Maahes and the attractive throat of Lord Abagor. In addition, the eight songs on this album also have a lot of power, aggression and fury, so you will be shaking your head in approval before you know it. The band packs it all into catchy songs in which it often stays to the point: the average length of the tracks is four and a half minutes, so there is no room for extensive atmosphere or opportunities to dream away. Atavism & Dying Stars forces you to stay alert.

Yet there is sufficient variety in the music of the Greek, Dutch and Italians. After two absolute pounding songs, Abyssal God is a little more compelling, which makes the acceleration in the following The Antagonist feel extra nice. In the subsequent An Astral Portrait, both sides of Aran Angmar come together again. The second part of this album is in any case very strong with for listening tips: the fine Spectral Enigma and The Poison Chalice because the band pulls out all the big guns one last time and Lord Abagor delivers his most impressive performance on this record. And oh yes, it’s also because of the cool Rotting Christ signature under the number.

Clearly a lot of thought has gone into all aspects of this album and that makes it an absolute must for every black metal fan who does not necessarily want to dig up his music from the ashfilled rivers of Hell, but who also wants a clear, modern sound. The gentlemen traveled through Europe in the wake of Gorgoroth extensively and made quite an impression. Let’s hope that there will be more opportunities to present this fine material. The future looks bright for the Mediterranean Men and their Viking singer: a deal has now been signed with Soulseller Records.

Score:

88/100

Label:

Hellstain Productions, 2023

Tracklisting:

  1. The Womb of Dreams
  2. Cycles of Destruction
  3. Abyssal God
  4. The Antagonist
  5. An Astral Portrait
  6. Atavism & Dying Stars
  7. Spectral Enigma
  8. The Poison Chalice

Line-up:

  • Lord Abagor – Vocals
  • Maahes – Guitar
  • Simone Esperti – Bass
  • Alessandro Cupici – Drums

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