Finally picked this vinyl version of the latest Avichi album up for the shop; originally released on CD in 2014 by Profound Lore, this remains one of the better American black metal albums to come out last year.

The third album from American black metallers Avichi, Catharsis Absolute continues to explore the ambitious, often progressive black metal that main member Aamonael (aka Andrew Markuszewski, a former member of Nachtmystium and current member of black sludge beasts Lord Mantis) has been developing since 2007's Divine Tragedy. His serpent-tongue visions are obsessively detailed, and further distinguished by the fact that Markuszewski recorded all of the music entirely on his own. For a true one-man band, this sounds amazingly cohesive, delivering as powerful and as sophisticated a blackened assault as any of his peers.

Opening with the sounds of requiem-like piano, "Repercussion" introduces the album with a brief bit of dark, atmospheric melody before shifting into the furious dissonance of "Flames In My Eyes". As Avichi's droning black metal glides on repetitive circular riffs over the monotonous blastbeat that gives an almost Von-esque trancelike feel to this first track, the vocals a layered mixture of scowling shrieks and monotone chanting, this simple sinister hypno-blast continues to circle endlessly, blasting through the gloom. Surges of looped orchestral sound swell up out of the depths, before finally shifting into something more melodic halfway through, Markuszewski's vocals transforming into a striking post-punk style croon over the malevolent blackened blast. Killer stuff. Then there's "Lightweaver", contrasting that blazing majestic black metal with a seriously rocking mid-tempo hook joined by some unexpectedly new wavey synthesizer accompaniment, almost Cure-style keyboards drifting up as the music downshifts into a ferocious black n' roll groove. "Voice Of Intuition " is even more haunting, those crooning vocals washing over more menacing chiming minor key melodies and serpentine bluesy leads, blastbeats racing furiously, slipping once more into another one of his signature sickoid rock parts. Markuszewski's complex arrangements mark most of these songs, but never at the expense of atmosphere and regal black ambience, and there's some seriously catchy stuff laced all throughout Catharsis. The nearly thirteen minute "All Gods Fall" starts off in a haze of ceremonial ambience, ritual bells ringing and rattling over a simple percussive pulse, then transforms into a mesmeric instrumental crush, an almost Neurosis-esque dirge laced with more of that eerie singing and furious howling vocals, imperious and apocalyptic and steeped in a heady philosophical darkness. And when the album comes to a close, its not with a blackened roar, but with a final descent into that minimalist piano that opened the album, a sprawling instrumental of elliptical minor key piano that expands the sound of the intro into a somber piece of shadowy chamber music gloom, those eerie ivory keys circling and tumbling through a haze of woodsmoke, an almost religious quality emanating from this meditative sound.

It's all still as evil and progressively minded as previous Avichi works, but with that deeper exploration of post-punk influenced melody that makes this his most infectious work. His most focused and affecting album so far, the vinyl edition of Catharsis Absolute comes in a heavyweight gatefold presentation.