TRHÄ — Tálcunnana dëhajma tun dejl bënatsë abcul'han dlhenic ëlh inagat, jahadlhë adrhasha indauzglën nu dlhevusao ibajngra nava líeshtamhan ëf novejhan conetc danëctc qin, ëf tu dlhicadëtrhënna bë ablhundrhaba judjenan slhëtangrasë shidandlhamësë inqom (review)

Album · 2022 · Atmospheric Black Metal

3/5 · 2022-03-13
siLLy puPPy

First of all the site has a character limit for titles but the real album title is:

Tálcunnana dëhajma tun dejl bënatsë abcul’han dlhenisë ëlh inagat, jahadlhë adrhasha dauzglën nu dlhevusao ibajngra nava líeshtamhan ëf novejhan conetsë danëctsë kin, ëf tu dlhicadëtrhënna bë ablhundrhaba judjenan alhëtangrasë shidandlhamësë inkom

The atmospheric black metal / space ambient act TRHÃ remains an enigmatic mystery with little to nothing known about it except for the fact it’s a one-person project of Thét Älëf who constructs a bizarre mix of lo-fi black metal mixed with ambient and atmospheric backings. Having only emerged in 2020, TRHÃ has been quite ambitious with an album and EP emerging in 2020, an album, 3 EPs and a split with Celestial Sword in 2021 and now in early 2022 another album.

This release has to be the most ridiculously titled album of the year so far with an unpronounceable lengthy title in some fictitious language. “Tálcunnana dëhajma tun dejl bënatsë abcul’han dlhenisë ëlh inagat, jahadlhë adrhasha dauzglën nu dlhevusao ibajngra nava líeshtamhan ëf novejhan conetsë danëctsë kin, ëf tu dlhicadëtrhënna bë ablhundrhaba judjenan alhëtangrasë shidandlhamësë inkom” features 31 words in a fictitious language from who knows where but only features one lengthy title track that just misses the 45-minute mark. This release is basically a lengthy procession of raw lo-fi black metal accompanied by dungeon synth and ambient electronica.

Similar to black metal acts like Paysage D’Hiver, Bekëth Nexëhmü and Knokkelklang, TRHÃ is more interested in conjuring a bleak ominous layered atmosphere of sounds that the black metal buzzsaw guitar, bass and drums can rampage to. This is about as lo-fi as you can get as it adopts those early second wave production values such as early Darkthrone to offer a monochromatic view of a dungeony scenario. To be honest the whole thing is rather cartoonish as the keyboard melodies are often like jingles and the raspy vocals often sound like a helium balloon installation gone wrong. The constant screaming reminds me of early Summoning more than anything.

This album has been getting its lion’s share of attention due to the over long album title but in reality isn’t anything that gets me too excited since there are plenty of similarly minded black metal albums that are much better. Paysage D’Hiver for example has a huge canon of albums that maximizes all the effects of this stylistic approach without ever becoming cheesy whereas this release has plenty of head scratching moments that rub me the wrong way and break the spell of the mood that is intended. This is a worthy release to check out but unfortunately the keyboard tones totally derail the experience for me and leave me wanting to fulfill this experience with one of Paysage D’Hiver’s now classic albums.