Review: “Eternal Ekur” by Catharist

Taking influences from Death, Thrash and Black Metal whilst adding progressive synth elements to formulate their sound, Catharist are a band who like to take their time over their creations and build their music around lyrical concepts painstakingly researched to add a level of complexity and intelligence to their songs. Hailing primarily from St. Andrews in Scotland, the trio of vocalist Kris Hart, guitarist and programmer Jim Foote and bassist, synth guru and fellow programmer Allan Young have been plying their trade for some time with this being their third album following 2013’s “Ancestral : Origin : Celestial” and 2016’s “The Occultist”. Interestingly the album, which was released in July 2020 was recorded in four separate sessions between November 2017 and September 2019 before being mixed and mastered by the bands bassist in April 2020, making it something of a labour of love…

…Catharist (pronounced Catha-rist) take their name from a Christian sect which flourished in Western Europe in in the 1200’s with dualistic beliefs which embraces asceticism and identified the World as the creation of a Satanic Demiurge, later condemned by the Church as heretical, which proves the point about the research that goes into the bands cryptic writings. Taking the best of their influences to create haunting melodies, sweeping progressive moments and crushing Blackened Thrash bursts is what the they do best. From the throat ripping Black Metal vocals of Hart’s main attack to the almost choral clean moments on “Epic of Anzu“, the band flourish with a constant evolution and revolution in an ever changing soundscape. Indeed it is only those vocals that remain a constant, dark and evil calling as they are surrounded by moments of everything from bleak and cold synths to industrial dirge, to soaring progressive leads and roaring Thrash-isms. Deviant and diverse music is what the band create with more plot twists than a nasty, gore filled horror film. Part of that is given away in the longer songs, which take their time to get it right and have no fat to be trimmed. The rampaging “Obsidian Night” is perhaps the most straight up track, stylistically treading the well worn path of Melodic Death Metal with plenty of haunting and creepy overtones within its folds while the ethereal qualities of “The Gatekeeper” are mesmeric. Cinematic but with that raw quality, listening to parts of “Eternal Ekur” is like watching a science fiction film from the 60’s with a lesser audio quality that makes it sound better than it would if it was polished within an inch of its unnatural life; there is a certain nostalgic charm that couldn’t be achieved any other way [7.5/10]

Track listing

1. Wisdom Magic Incantation
2. Epic of Anzu
3. Obsidian Night
4. Bestower of Kingship
5. The Gatekeeper
6. Tarzan Boy (Instrumental Version) (Baltimora Cover)

“Eternal Ekur” by Catharist is out now and available over at bandcamp