Olkoth – The Immortal Depths (2016)

olkoth the immortal depths

Article by Corey M.

Whatever the musicians of Olkoth are physically doing with their instruments is nothing extraordinary but the idiosyncratic placement of notes and the resulting higher-level structures that emerge in their songs are truly something to behold. “Rollercoaster” and “Labyrinth” metaphors abound when writers try to describe metal with this sound. The most appropriate real-world visual analog would be an ancient sculpture, specifically what can be found in Mesoamerican architecture: Vivid figures and images symmetrically organized and actually making up the architecture itself rather than being mere aesthetic reliefs. Hearing this music is much like view ancient reliefs: there is an obvious narrative even though the specific symbols belong to alien cultures and distant epochs. The representations ring true by striking a Jungian chord deep within the recesses of our collective unconsciousness. However, these super-emotive runes are not activated at will; the listener must cultivate a passive mindstate to avoid projecting their own idiosyncratic symbolism onto the music. That will only serve to obfuscate the encoded messages just waiting to be decrypted.

Listen to and download The Immortal Depths EP for free from Olkoth’s Bandcamp page.

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21 thoughts on “Olkoth – The Immortal Depths (2016)”

  1. Nicholas L. says:

    Corey, thanks for sharing, this is cool! Strong graveyard atmosphere, yet with a certain playfulness. There is a pervasive calmness in the music, even during the fast parts. As you said, the music itself is relatively straightforward, and the structures are well partitioned and the production clear, so I do not think that the descriptor “labyrinthine” is appropriate here. Of the three tracks, “Shrine of Rotten Bones” was very evocative and left the strongest first impression, but I will not be specific in order to avoid putting ideas in the heads of other potential listeners. I am not sure how this will stand the test of time, but it’s definitely worth a listen, methinks. Music for candlelight or darkness only.

    1. C.M. says:

      Indeed, the arrangements are too transparent and can be followed intuitively, so labyrinthine is not a good descriptor. There is still some uncanny dimension present in the music, like the feeling that comes with seeing unfamiliar architecture or an unknown animal for the first time. I will be looking forward to a full-length from these occultists.

  2. Coryu says:

    Will this be stamped with Prozak`s seal of approval anytime soon?

    1. Robert says:

      Prozak’s stamp of approval is all that matters.

      1. LostInTheANUS says:

        Prozak is too busy attending Paul Ledney’s anal orgies at the moment.

      2. Norman Ihne says:

        I´m sorry, I need to read Prozak’s opinion on this ep before I buy.

        1. It’s free on Bandcamp…

        2. vOddy says:

          No, you do not. You are supposedly a metalist, a Hessian. You are supposed to be a wild and untamed goat, not a domesticated sheep.
          Listen to it yourself and make up your own mind.

          1. LostInTheANUS says:

            “You are supposed to be a wild and untamed goat”
            No. Goats are cuckolds.

            1. vOddy says:

              I just learned the word cuckold today. You made me look it up in a dictionary.

              Anyway, I did say an untamed goat. If you are just walking around eating grass, then surely, you will not be a cuckold.
              Not to mention that only jews during the bronze age and muslims fucked goats. In my country, fucking goats was illegal since the medieval period. The king’s goat herders, in fact, were legally obligated to be female, to avoid any potential goat fucking.

              1. LostInTheANUS says:

                I don’t get what fucking goats has to do with letting your wife get ravaged by another man. Cuckolding itself is often likened to growing goat’s horns, Shakespeare has a lot of allusions to characters being cuckolds by growing horns or even being flat-out called cuckolds. In Italy one way to show that you think someone’s wife is sleeping around with other men is to show that they have horns, and yes, one of them involves doing the metal horns pointed at the direction of the guy you’re calling a cuckold, this is also one of the gravest insults to any man in Italy. In Spanish the common insult cabrón literally means goat and you’re again implying that the other guy is a cuckold. In my language cuckold means “rogonja”, which translated literally into English means “one who has horns”.

                1. vOddy says:

                  Goats have different symbolic meaning in your culture, then. I’ve never heard of what you told me before.
                  I also didn’t realize that only men can be cuckolds.

                  1. LostInTheANUS says:

                    Women can be too, only they are called cuckqueans.

    2. C.M. says:

      No, but I can mushroom stamp your forehead.

  3. pat redux says:

    nice recommendation

    this is eminently listenable stuff

  4. At the Bill Gates says:

    In it’s soaring moments, this sounds like Midnight Odyssey “Funerals from the Astral Spheres” and Blut Aus Nord “Memoria Vetusta II: Dialogue with the Stars”. Plus a vibrato pedal set to FAST. Cavernous reverb, plaintive upper-register guitars (I’m hearing major 7ths, man!), rollicking beats, sonorous keybz in the background.

    1. Submit a counter review or a Sadistic Metal Review to editor@deathmetal.org if you want.

      1. At the Bill Gates says:

        Thank you, but I was merely extending Corey M.’s review.

        1. C.M. says:

          Allow me to return the favor and extend your anal capacity with my fist.

          1. vOddy says:

            Witty underrated post

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