Review by Justin Joseph
Malakhim – And in Our Hearts the Devil Sings
Record Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Year: 2025
Rating: 8/10
I often believe that our souls seek to uncover the origin of where light has never graced its obscene glow, to walk a path void of fickle human emotions, so we consume that which brings us closer to such euphoria. We eat upon the flesh of art, devouring the words, digesting the sound so our minds become drunk as the veil that shrouds the eyes recedes, for what remains is the raw primal essence to be heeded, and the flesh which houses this spirit to obey its commands…
“And in Our Hearts the Devil Sings” by Malakhim embodies the magick that divorces the soul from that which is pious, for it is the bile that dissolves the chains that tether the mind to this flesh-bound prison. Honing the ceremonial arts of Black Metal, Malakhim forges an incendiary offering whose flames match the aura of such titans as Watain and Marduk, wherein sound is used naught as a musical construct but rather as a sigil that stains the weeping stigmata of light, violating the orifice in profane ecstacy.
Malakhim
“Solar Crucifixion” and “Into Darkness We Depart” are tracks that act as pillars that create this titan, for the inner workings of this architecture are built on a foundation of a sulphurous spirit, churned from the harmony of the strings and percussions. The shapes that these elements adopt are manifested through their jagged dissonance from the flaying of the musical construct, where the guitars adopt an aphotic candor to their playing, but also accentuating the depth of the drums in its ritualistic rhythm. Parts of Behexen or even Unanimated can be looked upon as a comparison where melody is used as a means to ensure the senses, to entrance the mind, and by extension, pulling the soul deeper into its pthartic realm. The vocals, combined with the production elevates the experience, bestowing upon the senses a more tangible sensation. “The Firmament Submits” is a testament whereby the voice speaks in a tongue from which a litany forged from the inverse is created, for the might and vehemence spewed forth from each enunciation is enough to flay and welt the flesh of any celestial being.
Malakhim takes the seraphic words spoken from blind tongues and turns each verse into ash with its sonic incantation. For what is offered unto the mind is an unbridled force that tramples every sacred omen and defiles and contorts every false doctrine.