Oh boy. Where does one even start with Morning Star? I’ve been a fan of Këkht Aräkh since the Night & Love tape dropped on Livor Mortis in 2019, and I championed Pale Swordsman off the strength of its first single, so seeing the scene shift regarding this record, the project’s third, has been jarring, to put it lightly. Night & Love and Pale Swordsman both featured what was, at the time, a refreshing and intimate take on black metal that resonated during COVID. Then, Këkht Aräkh’s presentation shifted away from black metal and aligned itself more with the Soundcloud rap aesthetic. I saw the jokes, heard the people taking a stand against the album, and I started to wonder, “Holy hell, was I duped the whole time? Does this guy actually suck?” Pair that public backlash with the “holy shit fr?” SEVENTEEN SONG tracklist, and to say I was apprehensive going into this album would be a drastic understatement.
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I understand why people thought Crying Orc (government name Dmytro Marchenko), the artist behind Këkht Aräkh, was losing the plot when he dropped the “Wanderer” single in 2023, but I’m also not going to grandstand and say that black metal artists should only listen to and be influenced by black metal. I get it, I’m also a white dude born in the ‘90s, I fucked with Yung Lean in 2013 too. The difference is, I wasn’t trying to turn my black metal songs into “Ginseng Strip 666.” Hearing “Still wandering in the night – Pale Swordsman, ØÜGH” as an adlib on “Wanderer” felt like a fucking psyop, and now, three years removed, it feels like memetic warfare.
When Morningstar isn’t aping Soundcloud rap aesthetics, the actual metal presented is passable and, at times, pretty good. The production is pillowy and dreamy, atmospherically feeling more like a foggy morning in the spring as opposed to the sunny afternoon vibes you’d expect from similarly lucid artists like Deafheaven or Møl, which is a good thing (blackgaze was a failed experiment, it’s time to move on). Instrumentally, Crying Orc hasn’t made many great strides. He hasn’t become a guitar virtuoso or gotten into metric modulation, but if you liked Pale Swordsman, you shouldn’t have any gripes with his performance. What should be noted is how good the bass guitar sounds here, most notably on the second track “Castle.” The low end is clear and pronounced, which is rare in black metal but feels like a steak dinner when you finally get it.
As with his previous releases, it’s apparent that Këkht Aräkh is forever indebted to the likes of Darkthrone and that he worships at Transilvanian Hunger’s altar, but does every song have to be so mid-paced? It isn’t until the latter half of the record where we start getting hints of speed or aggression. Tracks like “Three Winters Away,” “Vigil,” and “Land av Evig Natt II” demonstrate the strength and command Crying Orc holds when he cuts through the bullshit and plays black metal the way it’s meant to be played; cold and angry, with venom and malice coursing throughout in equal measure.
Unfortunately, with repetition and repeated listens, Morning Star’s errors and missteps become even more glaring. Earlier, I mentioned its titanic seventeen-song track list, and lemme tell you, you feel all seventeen of them. It has a total runtime of just over fifty minutes, but the problem lies in that so many of these songs function more as interludes rather than proper tracks. They’ll run for two or three minutes with sparse instrumentation, usually just a guitar plucking sleepily while Mr. Aräkh sings somberly overtop. When they aren’t immediately memory-holed due to their overabundance and lack of energy, they kill the momentum, to the point where an otherwise good song like “Angest” gets thrown in the bin because Crying Orc stops playing black metal abruptly to end the song on 30 seconds of bedroom guitars for no real reason other than because he could.
One of the main issues with Morning Star is that Marchenko allowed too many outside influences into the creative process. You’ll often see his music labelled as “black metal for TikTok kids” and that’s a fair comparison, considering it’s evident that he draws inspiration from the platform’s viral acts (he’s name dropped artists such as Lil Peep and BONES), and you can also hear the slightest influence from nu metal bands like Deftones (I wouldn’t be surprised if he covers “Sextape” or “House of Flies” eventually). That outside influence is most apparent on the collaborative track “Eternal Martyr” with Bladee. You know the one, you’ve seen the memes. Maybe there’s something to be said for the way Këkht Aräkh was so eager to work with outside influences from a scene so foreign to black metal. There’s an argument to be made for the preservation of “the ways of old” or whatever, about not diluting your craft with music for “normies,” but that argument can easily be brushed aside when you remember just how much techno and electronic music Fenriz and Varg were listening to in the 90s.
Full transparency, I like Bladee. Obviously, Mr. Aräkh does too. That still doesn’t excuse the promotional photo. I mean, come on, Mr. Blad-double-E, a Minnesota Twins hat? Wrong ALC team (GO TIGERS). Getting a Bladee cosign is huge for any underground artist, especially for one who is a genuine fan of the Swedish rapper, but one almost starts to question if the collaboration is in good faith, if it’s for honest musical integrity, or if it’s for bragging rights and a chance to climb some mythical clout ladder (I mean, could you imagine 1349 working with Birdman or Paul Wall in the 2000s?) Musically, “Eternal Martyr” is standard fare for Crying Orc, sad and pillowy black metal with softly sung passages that Bladee handles. I guess Marchenko didn’t want to sing on this one, because Bladee isn’t doing anything that Marchenko hasn’t done elsewhere. While there’s nothing abhorrently wrong with it, that damn promotional photo and Bladee’s lazy inclusion leave a bad taste in the mouth.
Maybe I’m not the target audience, I mean, I thought I was, I’ve liked everything else this dude has made before, but Morning Star doesn’t sit well. Maybe Morrissey was onto something when he asked, “Has this world changed or have I changed?” Has Këkht Aräkh changed or have I? Is this still a project I can enjoy or is it too bogged down by all of this outside bullshit? Are there too many cooks in the kitchen? Am I just not “with it” anymore? I don’t know dude, but I’m not into it.
–Caylen Darling
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Morning Star is available this Friday via Sacred Bones.
