Simply put, Malkuth are a Leviathan; rising from the West, to lay waste to the Eastern lands—fierce and spiteful, having been awakened from centuries of contemplative slumber. In comparison to their two full-lengths on Hospital Productions, Hathir Sakta (and its accompanying disc on Prison Tatt Records, Tamahprabha, the set originally intended as one double LP) finds Malkuth in relative or even greater form, this material having been simmered to perfection, its ferocity seasoned to epic proportion—and as always, guitar-guitar-drums—no bass to tether it, "define" it or in any way hem it in. Szwed and Murano's guitars tentacle one another—dozens of possessing riffs, split in all the right places by ice shards of trebly melody—angular, baroque and dissonant, as if Morton Feldman were somehow meeting black metal halfway; his studied, contemplative maturity juiced up on a gift-cask of USBM-tinged Kaddish wine and energy drinks, and Mr. Murano's experimental projects (Decimus, K-Salvatore, Key of Shame et al.), having evolved similarly during the interval, inform these Malkuth tracks in the most apropos and satisfying of ways. Matt Heyner's roiling drum kit ties it all up in twine, complementing Murano's growl with snare hits and tom workouts like small-arms fire. Malkuth are of a rare breed within the pantheon of black metal, in that their material is both energizing (similar to the way of all bands who chose to ride the Darkthrone / Abruptum artery from the primordial Scandinavian explosion) and meditative / brooding, offering "head" and "hard" in equivalent doses. After spending many hours of deep listening to their material, as well as hosting them on my WFMU radio program during the bridge between their Hospital releases and these newer ones, I can say with surety that this LP and its companion are indeed Malkuth's finest hour, such that "well worth the wait" becomes a descriptive understatement. Hathir Sakta requires your immersion, for the listeners' full envelopment to be achieved; that said, you'll undoubtedly pick up on the incredible energy of these recordings even if only half-listening, and when you're ready, the awe-inspiring, novelistic quality of Hathir Sakta will reveal itself fully and enrapture the listener in its cavernous terror and ecstasy.
