Ah, yes. French Black Metal is on the menu again. And frankly, the RMR crew has a sweet spot for these folks. Bands like Seth or Corpus Diavolis dazzled us to no end and garnered raving reviews with access to our latest Top 10 to boot. Looks like the French unconsecrated grounds are fertile soil for those devilish shenanigans.
Then, someone opined that Alukta here move down the ritualistic lane. And that stopped the old geezers of the review desk cold in their tracks. French Black Metal with a ritualistic twist? Something like the terrible Darkend? No, it’s something called Doom Ritual Black Metal. Ouch. Atmospheric Doom on a Black Metal foundation – with rituals. Didn’t that already end in disaster once over at the review desk? Spoiler alert, it did, but in a slightly different setting and not with this band. So, let’s fire up Merok and find out what full immersion gets us this time.
Alukta is driven by yet another duo. Déhà, a jack of all metallic trades steeped in doom, atmosperics, and Pagan Folk imbued shenanigans. His partner in crime is Marie, the underground (Black Metal) vocalist and owner of this band’s very own vanity label. Both morphed into some sort of a well-oiled unholy symbiotic state. A cooperation of the dark and mysterious that works astonishingly well. Déhà with his grimily voluptuous and often transcending and haunting soundscapes, some of which sailing closely to the Forest Metal gang such as Ellende. And Marie, who’s fully at home in the darkest pits of Black Metal atmospherics, same as in ethereal tribal chanting that would put Wardruna’s enchantress – Lindy-Fay Hella – to shame. As the lore goes, Marie wanted some reprieve from Black Metal proper and explore doom for a while. Well, mission accomplished. And both usually mix well if done right.
For once, this band won’t invoke any daemons. Merok‘s theme is all about the Toraja tribes from South Sulawesi in Indonesia. An indigenous people with strange and unusual funeral rites and a – by contemporary standards – ‘disturbing’ rapport with death and the dead. So, don’t expect your usual Black Metal wiolence. Grief and mystique, moving in on blackened sandals is on the menu. Lament instead of full-blown blackened fury. And that will already irk the adepts of sturdy Atmospheric Black Metal who think that one must feel the rusty claws of demonic – somethings whenever such a record starts to roarrrr at you.
Now, let’s be clear. Merok here contains one of the best atmospheric doom this crew came across for some time. It won’t try to shove metal brutality down your gullet at all cost. Instead, Alukta uses all the different objects out of Black Metal’s toolbox to patiently and meticulously build the album’s soaring soundscapes. You will indeed get subtle orchestration slowly working itself up into a thundering crescendo. A nicely spiced lather of thoughtful melodics that will emerge out of that cold cosmic void. Black Metal rasps on majestic tremolos that suddenly get replaced with shaman-like injections and Wardruna-esque tribal chants. Hints of Heilung-esque bravery meet hauntingly written melodies and sub-themes. That is indeed next-level performance.
And all of that moves in on a backbone of funeralistically challenged, almost sludge-laden melodic onslaught that more than once reminded us of the olde masters of early Atmoblack (Laissez entrer ceux qui pleurent, for instance). That’s a tendency often ending in an almost trance-like soundscape, whose rhythmic section seems to emerge from thoughts Rotting Christ may have had in their fever dreams. And where other such records are prone to repetition, this here record appears well-balanced. Instead, you’ll find a neatly constructed production that doesn’t leave much to chance nor is there a lot to take exception with.
And finally, let it be said. Merok turned into a beautifully crafted work of art. A hypnotic, shaman-esque yet tribal piece that merges subtle Black Metal atmospherics with the grief and lament worthy of a cult of the dead. Well balanced, soft and silky at one time, and reasonably raw and brutal the next. It takes skill not to lose your audience in a mess of subdued samples and half-baked ideas. And Alukta here mastered this feat with bravado and a taste for the dark and mysterious that we don’t often find in this here genre.
So, kudos will be in order, and the RMR crew is already looking for that next thunderously ethereal piece that this duo is certainly already working on.
Ed’s note: The record made it onto our 2025 malevolent list and the 2025 Top 10. Congrats!
Record Rating: 9/10 | Label: Transcendance | Web: Nothing to see here.
Release Date: 2 May 2025