Polish Black Metalers, ARKONA, released their SEVENTH album "Age of Capricorn" in December of 2019. While labelled as "Black Metal" this album is heavy with melodic and symphonic notes as well. This album, "Age of Capricorn", follows the release of ARKONA's very popular album, "Lunaris", in 2016. Having made some changes to their previous line-up, ARKONA now includes Khorzon on guitar and keyboard/synthesis. Keeping with traditional Polish metal styles, ARKONA boasts heavy, dark vocals, hard hitting guitar riffs and blast beats, and crescendo-ing symphonics. This album definitely has a 90's vibe, an era that was so flourishing for metal. The vocals are dark and devilish. The drum beats powerful, the guitar robust and flowing with tremolo picking. Tremolo picking is defined as a method commonly used in Black Metal music that requires rapid reiteration of a single note on a stringed instrument, or between two notes or chords; by rapidly moving back and forth.

"Stellar Inferno" - The whispery, muttery, and Mephistophelian vocal entry opens the dark world of a stellar inferno. Blast beats carry the urgency of twilight, as the demons come out to haunt you. Melodic notes soothe you into a false sense of calm, backed and atoned by its allure. "Alone Among the Wolves" - Course guitar, and trippy synth, a river of utter loss and despair. A wave ridden on a hazy memory of a dream upon waking, the fog that has not yet cleared. It is the vast emptiness of the echo of a voice in a canyon of forgotten hopes. It is the last tear cried when you are spent and....alone. "Age of Capricorn" - Diving right in with powerful blast beats, this is a turbulent ride. The melodic synthesis a welcome reminder there is beauty in the dark. Like watching the grandeur of a lightning storm in the desert, the awe inspiring, powerful rage that is so very magnificent. Up with this song's softer side, down with its murky side. Waves of intensity.

"Deathskull Mystherium" - A song that has me bobbing my head to its beat. Artful, loud, non-apologetic, and in your face. The demonic vocals, wisps of smoke that rise up straight from the fires of hell. Ghosts peering out from the veil grasp and drag you to their depths. "How did I get here?", you wonder. "Towards the Dark" - Foremost, when opening this door, we are welcomed by emotionally played drums. Upon entry of the dark castle corridors of this song, the melodic nature reverberates along its halls. Mixed among the dust and cobwebs, guitar riffs drift in habitual shade. ARKONA hits hard like an ominous cloud of darkness. Like the demons of the night, the ones that hold you when you are alone. The tattered edges of your beaten soul blowing in the hot breeze from the pits of inferno. Littered with dust in the sweat upon your face. Looking back at the dark angel behind you, you bow down in concession. Sometimes it's the darkness that holds you when all else has abandoned you.