ESOCTRILIHUM
“INHUMA”
Album Review by Dark Juan

10/10

Esoctrilihum is:

Asthaghul – Guitar, bass, synths, throat and violin. Obviously he needs to get out more.

Fuck knows what this man is on. It must be the world’s most colossal speedball, or he is simply possessed of the same level of energy as about 270 fat, ageing hellpriests like me. The sheer amount of amphetamine must be colossal. It is the only explanation for this madman and his desire to play every single instrument known to metal. Anyway, seeing as I have been handed a rich supply of French metal by MetalgodsTV.com’s resident Grandmaster Of Noble Steel, Iron Mathew, I thought I would give Esoctrilihum’s third album a spin and see what happened. Because Esoctrilihum are also French. Allegedly. Personally, I think this person is from fucking Jupiter. Or possibly Hades. Jesus, I need about an ounce of whizz just to keep up, man. This is Inhuma, the THIRD record by this absolute nutter, and the press kit has to be seen to be believed. I shall show you just some of the frankly terrifying fruits of this man’s imagination…stay there;

“Evil-born, the flesh scarred by the unspeakable, He will undergo the allegiance of blood, black consecration of the damned, sermon of the Beast’s secret dogma. By its absolute dementia, Ternolghoth will annihilate the foreign residents of the 8 lands unleashing the lycanthropic ancestry of Nug-Omgh, blessed descendants of the Horned. He will walk as a necromancer, blaspheming the origin of All and Nothing. He will know the adultery of those banished from the Immaterial, whose bloody manifestations of unparalleled atrocity will never be forgotten.”

That was just the blurb for the second track on the record, charmingly entitled Blodh Sacremonh. There’s an album’s worth of this in the press kit. It makes for slightly unsettling reading. That quote up there was one of the more restrained (less barking mad) quotes. There’s some stuff in the press kit that proves that Asthaghul is quite, quite mad and really should not have ever been permitted to EVER go near a J.R.R. Tolkien book. Now I’m done being scared of this insane maniac, shall we delve into the music?

Unsurprisingly, it’s as mad as the man himself is. It is supremely, crushingly heavy, faster than joining the mile high club on Concorde at twice the speed of sound with Beth-Ami Heavenstone (she’s just sooooooooooo perfect!) whilst snorting a small mountain of Bolivian marching powder and as insane as a mental hospital full of mass murdering bastards all looking at YOU. Allow me to share another quote from the press kit to prove the man’s declining level of sanity to you…

“From an archaic prescription will come the immutable occultation of Ankolth when a succession tarnished by annihilation will carry the embrace of Malgog deceased. His steps will cross the infinite reality of a blackened dimension. The clairvoyant will bring the present in the name of the damned pact, leading to the door of madness. Prince of monstrosity and unreason, Malgog will find the entrance for you. He will rise from decomposition and filth to bring obsessional delirium to humanity. The disciples prepare the invocation in a palace reflecting the green depths of the water, where huge octopuses slowly crawl on walls of dementia. The torchlights will illuminate the final rite of the purple sorcerers and their praises: Awake, Ubboh Sathnl, son of Malgog!”

Quite. I’m backing slowly away from Asthaghul and I advise you to do the same. Smile and make no sudden moves. If he goes for your handbag let him have it. If he goes for your bumbag, you’re on your fucking own.

Oh yes, the music. If you like your music faster than Lewis Hamilton on speed, then you’ll enjoy Escotrilihum. The music reminds me greatly of the speed, aggression, rage and power of Anaal Nathrakh but with added (and slightly jarring) psychedelia. It’s classic black metal riffs, a drummer who simply cannot be human and the ringmaster of terror known only as Asthaghul howling over it all. Its bloody good stuff too, very reminiscent of Daemonarch and the like and the more martial style of black metal in its early days. There’s also a fair smattering of classic death metal in there for your delectation also. It’s an undeniably powerful record and one that a certain audience will enjoy. I’m not sure that a general audience will get it. I got it, but then I was a fan of black metal right from the get go. This is the most martial black metal imaginable, occasionally alternating with death metal (most noticeably on the album opener, Incursus Into Daeth Hausth) and psychedelia. The whole record is absolutely terrific and well worth a punt if you are a lover of black metal of the most bestial kind. The only way I can describe this record is that it is fucking savage. It’s one of the heaviest things I have ever heard. It is the powerful, distilled essence of everything that was exciting about black metal dragged kicking, screaming and biting into the light. It might be also worthy of your attention if you just appreciate good, heavy fucking metal and fancy something that makes no attempt at melody, but flies at your jugular like a starved vampire. It also fulfils black metal standards by having an utterly undecipherable logo, vocals that sound like alternately retching, screaming in pain, roaring with rage and howling at the moon. It also has one of the strangest production jobs I have heard. The guitar frequently gets lost in the bass, the drums fade in and out of the foreground, lead guitar is almost impossible to hear, vocals also slip in and out of the songs like so much mist and it all has a kind of homemade, violent aesthetic which simply adds to the experience of hearing Esoctrilihum. In fact, that is EXACTLY what this is. It’s not a record, it’s an experience. It’s the best and most pure black metal I have heard in easily ten years, and that’s including the psychedelic aspect of the music. Allow me to leave you with one more example of Asthaghul’s worryingly demented ramblings from what has to be the most entertaining press kit I’ve read in ages. Then run for your life…

“Formed by onyx, hammered by suffering, the great city of oblivion will disappear in a ceaseless stream of cries, distraught by fear, beyond the diabolical threshold of Ilmongh-Thuln. The bog of the visionary Siaegel will endure during the abolition of what was the last age of Ukhn. In a place of terror, stellar watchmen will guard the lost knowledge, hidden in incomprehensible domains of shadow. Their incandescent architectures conceived by the fallen descendants of Malgog will challenge the opponents of void for the eternity.”

Absolutely fucking bonkers.

Basically, everything that was good about black metal in one heavy as fuck package. Also madder than Mickey McMad of Madsville, and his wife Madison. Utterly wonderful.

The Patented Dark Juan Blood Splat Rating System has a large array of heavy calibre automatic weaponry at his disposal for the inevitable arrival of Asthaghul. Escotrilihum is awarded 10/10 for a frankly astonishing body of work for one man. Staggering stuff.

TRACKLIST (The word salad quotient here is off the scale. Expect sarcasm.)

Incursus Into Daeth Hausth (What the actual fuck?)
Blodh Sacremonh (The charlie he’s been mainlining is affecting him now.)
Exhortathyon Od Saths Scriptum (Sounds like a trip to the clinic’s in order for you son.)
Dramath Uhr (Is this the technical name for the noises you make after vomiting?)
Sinsnhy’lh (This is just jabbing wildly at the keyboard whilst off his face and reading The Silmarillion.)
Yhtri’lhn (The Last Age Of Ukhn) (Oh, using fucking brackets are we now? Still makes as much sense as a Chinese instruction manual for a cheap electronic device…)
Aevendh Sadh (Getting perilously close to sanity this time, because it resembles Gaelic.)
Lorth Volth Lynhnzael (Lost In The Storm Of Itshka Blood) (Still as comprehensible as a Russian road sign to a Westerner. The thing is, none of these titles are even close to being French either, so he’s going to confuse most of the Western world with these song titles. The man is as mad as a box of biscuits!)

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