[short review for an older recording, yet still too hot to ignore]
Antikvlt is a project by Chris Marrok Brauch, whom you might know from his main outfit Anomalie. For a while, this Austria born dude was involved with Tulsadoom too, as well as Selbstentleibung (until their split in 2016). At the end of 2024 he decided to form a new project in reaction to the permanently increasing genre; a worldwide Black Metal community; a ‘shallow evil-looking entertainment circus’ of fakeness and would-be evilness. ‘I felt an ever-growing urge to return to my musical roots, reviving the raw, honest and unpredictable essence of a slowly fading species of real characters’, dixit the musician.
Recently after, Chris came in contact with the Belgian Black Metal label Immortal Frost Productions with one goal: to release his debut under the Antikvlt moniker. He joined forces with Swedish musician Daniel Johansson (currently in Draconian, acting as Aspernamentum) for some drum parts, and with Taake / Deathcult sweetheart Hoest for a vocal guest performance. The better part was written during Winter 2024-2025, resulting in an adventure that is ‘honest, angry, uncomfortable’ for it summons ‘the essential and pure rebellious spirit that once ignited the fires of Black Metal and its dirty trailblazers’ (quote taken from the project’s homepage).
Narrating about the destructive essence of humanity, with a hint of sarcasm and irony (‘not every smile results from happiness or joy’), the Antikvlt debut A Revelation Of Intoxication (the title is a perfect example of Marrok’s cynical criticism) is a right-in-your-face experience, both lyrically and sonically. The nine titles have a total running time of forty-two minutes and mock mankind’s superficial existence. So do the music videos. Lovely, isn’t it?!
The core essence that characterizes this record is like a grooving, sardonic, pounding and energetic ride through the dirtiest corners of the sonic spectrum, smoothly balancing in between epic melodicism, complex technicity and a nasty f*ck-off attitude. The play is pure, uncompromising, straight-forward and infuriating, balancing in between convulsing up-tempo structures and avalanche-like outbursts with that fine old-styled SpeedBlackThrash’n’Roll’ish identity.
And there are a lot of additions that are remarkably pleasant: doomy harmonies (mind the suffocative hypnosis in Serenade Of Perversion), semi-devoted choir chants (No Rest For The Sacred or In Darkness They Trust), some progressive bass lines, a couple of progressive drum patterns or strings, hints of Crust Punk (mind the introduction of Red Light Suicide, like a bastard child of Amebix and Lifelover), anthemic shouts (like in Crossed Lines, with its gloomy, mesmeric leads), and, well, the huge variation that typifies this release…
FFO: Tarnkappe, Khold, Leviathan, Tulus, Shining, Carpathian Forest, Dark Fortress as well as Hellhate, MNHG, Muert and the likes, if you want to dwell within the IFP dimension.
The album’s design and layout have been done by Immortal Frost Productions’ family member WrathDesign, offering somewhat unusual cover artistry. I mean, it’s rather a Punk-laden drawing this time, yet then again it does fit to the unfiltered roughness of the concept and the sonic result. Anyway, there’s a jewel-case CD edition, coming with a twelve-page booklet, and two different versions on vinyl, a ‘regular’ black one, and a 12” LP on black ice / white splatter vinyl, transparent, and strictly limited. Both LP editions come with an insert and a poster on A2-format, by the way.
https://immortalfrostproductions1.bandcamp.com/album/a-revelation-of-intoxication
https://antikvlt.bandcamp.com/album/a-revelation-of-intoxication
https://www.shop.immortalfrostproductions.com/product/antikvlt-a-revelation-of-intoxication/
https://www.shop.immortalfrostproductions.com/product/antikvlt-a-revelation-of-intoxication-lp/
https://www.antikvlt.com/discography/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1iiuZTDYpE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQhIoOBpbp0