Thanatorean – Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents
Release Date: 27th June 2025
Label: I, Voidhanger
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal, Death Metal, Avant-Garde, Experimental.
FFO: Blut Aus Nord, Qrixquor, Negative Plane, Spirit Possession.
Review By: Malte Brigge
When I, Voidhanger releases music, you know it won’t be confined to standard genre boundaries. Rest assured, debut Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents from Polish dissonant black metallers Thanatorean is not run-o’-the-mill Darkthrone worship. Comprised of former Cultum Interitum bandmates E. (‘singer’ in the promo sheet but more aptly defined as ‘voice’ on Bandcamp, although I might be willing to settle for ‘bloodrite priest’ instead) and K.M. (multi-instrumental mastermind of Ars Magna Umrae), Thanatorean leans into the Polish penchant for combining driving blackened song structures with huge deathened soundscapes. Boldly citing such experimental changelings as Blut Aus Nord as a comparative factor, just how far outside the lane does Thanatorean go?
Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents calls on its blackened tradition but has a massive death metal production. The snare tone on this album is one of the main standouts—I find ‘OH GOD THOSE DRUMS!’ scrawled in my notes an embarrassing number of times. K.M. does all the sounds here (which I guess includes the production as no other is listed) and the space he creates for the drums is simply gorgeous. The playing itself has touch, knowing when to drive the song with beastly power and when to settle into a groove guaranteed to get all your heads bobbing in perfect unison. Combined with Panzerfaustian high-low riffing structures, dissonant lightning-bolt leads and E.’s massive growls which occasionally clean up into frightening baritone incantations, Thanatorean builds a sonic landscape that feels more like ritual than album, and a modern ritual at that.
Despite what the castled grail-specter on the cover would have you believe, these songs feel like they’re shoving you to your sacrifice through a long-abandoned steelworks at night where for some reason the machines are still churning. The guitars have a grinding industrial tone, setting all this machinery in motion. Solos come squealing out of nowhere; no matter how often I listen, they continue to jolt and delight with their brash, unexpected arrivals. Lead single and album standout Thrice-Hexed has a particularly riveting ear-piercing solo that I find myself pressing repeat on, and the guitar work on De Profundis is wonderfully slimy, dripping soundwaves over the huge thudding bass, more like thick oil slicks slowly draining than some show-off flinging his guitar around. Tranquil Trueness is a factory line of human skulls being processed when the power cuts out, leaving a hollow echo bouncing off the ceilings. In Reverent Throes slides over you like a brick wall with a driving groove that has shades of classic industrial metal. Every track lays an ominous foundation through which E. roars, chants and intones the spells the lyrics intend to cast.
The guitar work is solid. Riffs rarely repeat but also don’t much leave their comfort zone, making it feel like this album could have been one cohesive track that continues to build. You wouldn’t notice if it were, but you do notice that it isn’t: the abrupt stutter-stop endings to songs and the unnecessary fadeouts that seem chosen at random are more jarring than effective. Penultimate song Bound Beneath and Beyond rings out like an album closer, while the actual last track ends so abruptly you feel like you’ve crashed headfirst into a wall while driving at night with the lights off. It’s always sudden and always a surprise. The fact that the album clocks in at a shade over thirty-nine minutes and songs rarely crack the five-minute mark leaves it feeling like there’s a lot more to offer here, and you will probably find yourself pressing play again to get a little more out of it, if nothing else than because it’s such a shock when it ends. On the whole, it holds up well to repeat listens.
The minds behind Thanatorean have plenty of experience and know how to craft their songs. I don’t know if Ekstasis of Subterranean Currents will be on my year-end list, but I would not be at all surprised to see it gracing the lists of others. Outside of the bizarre titling (which more often than not leaves me scratching my head trying to fruitlessly puzzle out the meaning), I wouldn’t call this as avant or experimental as the press sheet wants me to believe, but there’s enough off-kilter dissonance, flash-bang moments and neck-strengthening groove to keep me interested. They’ve created a dark monster made of drills, lathes, saws and sacrificial knives here that acolytes of black and death metal alike should be more than happy to prostrate themselves to.
(3.5 / 5)
