{"product_id":"kekht-arakh-pale-swordsman-vinyl","title":"Këkht Aräkh - Pale Swordsman | Vinyl","description":"\u003cdiv id=\"aec-product-description\" class=\"col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-12\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"aec-desc-review collapse\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKëkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko.\u003c\/p\u003e\nOriginally released on the Finnish label Livor Mortis in 2021, Pale Swordsman goes to even greater extents in building a bold and atmospheric sonic palette, and it's now seeing a worldwide reissue via Brooklyn label Sacred Bones. For the sound design of the album, Dmitry was inspired by The Stooges' Raw Power to deliver a more soft sounding album, decisively less \"metal\". Traditional black metal song structures still persist in songs like \"Night Descends\" and \"In The Garden\". However, their rawness and fast tempos is quickly cut through by dark ambient passages in \"Amor\" and \"Intro\" and softly played desolate ballads like \"Nocturne\" and \"Lily\". The crown jewel is the album closer \"Swordsman\", a track that displays a superb gothic sensibility, a poem recited over a deeply melancholic piano melody. \"The Christian concept of a person ridding themselves of evil to find inner peace or to be able to leave this world safely has become the core inspiration for the song.\" Dmitry explains \"However, this is not the only reading possible. I purposely avoid specifics in my lyrics so that the listener can always give the song their own meaning.\" The inspiration for the concept of the album also came from David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. \"I really enjoy it when an album tells a story about some character so I came up with one.\" says Dmitry when explaining the origin of the Pale Swordsman. The character is portrayed on the striking album cover art - a figure sitting aloof with a sword and a rose in each hand - and clearly symbolises the romantic juxtaposition of belligerence and fragile beauty that permeates the album's sound and atmosphere. Pale Swordsman delivers a foreboding yet bittersweet melancholy through poetic lyrics, soft interludes, raw and distorted guitars, eerie drums and harsh vocals - a fragile yet potent mix that successfully amplifies the ambience.\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"aec-musictabs\" class=\"ui-tabs ui-corner-all ui-widget ui-widget-content\"\u003e\n\u003cul role=\"tablist\" class=\"ui-tabs-nav ui-corner-all ui-helper-reset ui-helper-clearfix ui-widget-header\"\u003e\n\u003cli role=\"tab\" class=\"ui-tabs-tab ui-corner-top ui-state-default ui-tab ui-tabs-active ui-state-active\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\" tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTracks:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"mt-1\" role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"ui-tabs-panel ui-corner-bottom ui-widget-content\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"aec-jukebox\" class=\"tracksonly\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"jp-playlist tracksonly\"\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e Intro\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e Thorns\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e Night Descends\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e In the Garden\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e Amor\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e Nocturne\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e Amid the Stars\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e Lily\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e Crystal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e Swordsman\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFormat: Vinyl\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGenre: Metal\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eReleased: 2022-12-02\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Këkht Aräkh","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44468354187323,"sku":"EVP-843563154359","price":18.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0375\/2873\/1707\/files\/kkht-arkh-pale-swordsman_6Gpzj.jpg?v=1791815366","url":"https:\/\/record-stop.com\/products\/kekht-arakh-pale-swordsman-vinyl","provider":"Record Stop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}