Kekht Arakh "Pale Swordsman"
Kekht Arakh "Pale Swordsman"
Këkht Aräkh is the Ukrainian project founded in 2018 by Dmitry Marchenko.
Originally 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.
Shipping, Returns & Cancellations
Shipping, Returns & Cancellations
SHIPPING:
We ship Monday through Friday. Orders typically ship within 24-72 hours. Tracking is sent to the email you provide at check out and may take a few days to become active.
Any items ordered with Pre-Orders will be held until they can all ship together. If you need in stock items faster please order them seperately.
RETURNS:
Returns are only accepted on damaged or defective items. Return requests must be made within 7 days of delivery. Please save the original packaging.
If you own a Crosley, Victrola or any other lower end turntable that has no ability to adjust the weight of the tone arm and are experiencing skipping on a new record please try the "Penny Trick". Simply place a penny on the top of the cartidge and it should provide enough weight to resolve your issues. While a great entry to the world of vinyl we do recommend upgrading to a turntable with a tone arm that can be adjusted as this issue will randomly occur. We do not take returns in these cases.
Resellers: If you are buying from us for resale we honestly don't mind. However, please don't panic if something you bought suddenly isn't flipable for more money and then try to return stuff to us because you feel like you made a bad investment choice. Despite our outsized reputation we're a small shop, not amazon. Absorbing these costs adds up on places like ours. Plus a little patience always tends to pay off.
CANCELLATIONS:
Due to an increasing number of payment processors no longer returning transaction fees to sellers on cancelled orders and rising labor costs any orders or pre-orders that need to be cancelled before shipment will be assessed a 5% cancellation/restocking fee on the order total including shipping and any other taxes or fees associated with the order.
Thank you for your understanding.
-
All Domestic orders over $75 ship for free!
Free shipping threshold does not include sales tax.