AKHLYS, an ambient black metal solo project out of Colorado, comes forth with a remastered version the widely regarded debut album "Supplication". First released in 2009, the album brought with it a huge cult following. Now in 2019, ANNAPURNA Productions brings the album for the first time on vinyl LP, along with a digipak. All I can really say about this album is, wow. It is a journey of absolute ambient dread. The pure and jarring dissonance of the sounds heard just presents this feeling of complete hopelessness. The album sits at two tracks, both of which are sizeable enough to take you through a rollercoaster of emotion.

"Supplicaiton Part I" starts off with some dissonant tonal strikes that carry on for quite a long time. Each strike bringing with it, a state of uneasiness. This goes on for quite some time before the tonal melody (if you can call it that) switches to a brighter sound coupled with what sound like church bells. There doesn't seem to exist a real rhyme or reason to a lot of the sounds I hear, only that they seem to just bring melancholy. However, there is a lot of depth to the sounds, as there are quite a few changes in the tonal structure of the song. At around the 6:00 minute mark, the tonal quality of the track switches to a much lighter feeling. This light feeling begins to fade away drastically at around the 8:00 minute mark there is the first appearance of what might be construed as vocals. There is some sort of faint woman-like whispering I hear. Then again, I could be way off on that. The last few minutes of the track switch gears completely. There is a switch to a horror-like state that I feel. A repeated banging of what sounds like a bell or hammer, and some eerie vocals.

"Supplication Part II" continues with the feeling of horror from the start. There is some eerie whispering happening coupled with what sounds like wind. The track carries on like this for quite some time, adding in a faint sort of drum beating in the background. I feel as if the tonal structure of this track is to give the feeling of being stranded outside in the elements. It carries more of a theme to it. I don't quite know what to make of the sound. It is all over the place, but it accomplishes in making me feel a certain way of doom and dread. I know that is the goal of ambient music. If you are all about the pure ambient driven tonal dissonant type black metal, then this will be right up your alley. AKHLYS is strange for sure, but there is a beauty in the strangeness of the music.