2007's The Divine Tragedy was the debut full length from this solo project from Chicago-based black metaller Andrew Markuszewski (aka Aamonael), also a member of progressive black metallers Nachtmystium for a period of time as well as necro-sludge outfit Lord Mantis. On Divine Tragedy, Markuszewski took the sound of classic second wave black metal and contorted it into his own vision, blending elements of dissonance and progginess with crushing fast-paced BM and an aptitude for majestic, atmospheric leads and melodies in a way that was distinctly different from his work in Nachtmystium. The album showcased an offbeat sound that combined malevolent riffs and twisted, discordant shapes with brief passages of ritualistic ambience and, most strikingly, jangly angularity that at times can be reminiscent of the sort of math-rock influenced weirdness found in the more recent recordings of French black metal avant-gardists Deathspell Omega. Nowhere near as chaotic as that band, though; Avichi brings a more focused attack, the music rife with neck-snapping tempo changes and a tightly wound percussive assault that produces some intense, hypnotic blastscapes, which make the sudden shifts into brooding math-rock melody and those soaring leads so powerful.

The album begins and ends with a minimal ambient piece called "Entrance To God", built around the shimmering textures of gongs, producing metallic drones emanating from tempered metal, creating an almost meditational wash of sound that could pass for something off of an Eddie Pr�vost recording. And then the record hurls itself into the blasting, blazing majesty of "Purification Within The Eigth Sphere", where droning tremolo riffs and the chain-gun drumming become a backdrop upon which Aamonael hangs his arcane, philosophical lyrics and void-worship. The whole album focuses on those droning sinister riffs and washes of discordant terror, but some of Tragedy's more inspired moments come via the instrumental tracks like "Prayer For Release" and "Aeonic Disintegration", where the music slows down drastically and transforms into that bleak, mournful math-rock sound, stretches of brooding, almost Slint-like power, still thoroughly steeped in Avichi's particular strain of occult darkness but more expansive and spacious with lurching angular rhythms and crazed staccato riffs, an interesting and effective contrast with the album's more ferocious black metal meditations. Then there's "Taedium Vitae", where the band slows down to a pounding, tribal groove, almost doom-laden in it's pacing, while the guitars spiral out into one of the disc's more trance inducing buzz-mantras.

Avichi would go on to deliver a follow-up on Profound Lore that brought the project new accolades from fans of challenging, ornate black metal, but Tragedy is still a standout slab of scorched intensity from this project, highly recommended to anyone looking for imaginative, progressively minded blackness. Originally released by Numen Malevolum Barathri on Cd and subsequently out of print, The Divine Tragedy has been reissued as a high quality vinyl edition that comes in a matte-finish gatefold jacket adorned with Ba'al's stunning symbolist illustrations of taloned hands clutching flower petals and white doves hung by hooks driven through the lips of disembodied labia.