From Bandcamp, “Seven years in the making, “Haragma II” is a journey through the cosmic and mythological, blending the vastness of space with the timeless weight of ancient lore. Building upon the foundation set by “Dorsia,” the album pushes their sound to new heights. The album traverses a spectrum of themes: the fragility of humanity, the alien and the divine, and the eternal struggle to uncover what lies beyond. Songs explore worlds both haunting and surreal, while the epic conclusion, “Heracleidae,” draws upon the mythic power of Heracles, intertwining cosmic grandeur with the resonance of ancient heroism.”

The album has five songs, and the title track is first. It comes out of the gate with a thick dissonance, more cymbal crashes than you can count, and harsh vocals that bite. You feel like the floor might come out from underneath you, but somehow, they reel it back in. It finally settles a bit after the half-way mark, and you can hear Progressive elements. “Zaphnath-Paaneah” is another nearly chaotic offering, where the guitar parts seem to not make sense at first, but give it time, and it will fall into place. The vocals are horrid spits of venom from a vile beast, and the entire song has a deep, somber feeling.

“Behind the Veil” is an 11-minute beast, and it has a slightly smoother sound, with less of those barbed steel angels. From there, an almost jazzy passage springs up out of the muck, and then the two merge with added doses of aggression. This music borders on chaos, but somehow they maintain control. “Exoskeletons” hears the near-chaos getting so close to the edge it might fall off a cliff, and you have the feeling that something monumental is about to happen. It keeps you in this heighted state of suspense through the end. “Heracleidae” closes the album, as the song revs up and prepares for another onslaught. The vocals rage with what sounds like torture to me, and it makes me uncomfortable.

This music was maddening, and the longer you listen to it, the more it entangles you into its vast web. The highly sophisticated web was designed by a spider that is as cunning as she is astute. Once you are entangled, there is no escape, and the tortuous music plays until your last breath.