Monoliths and Dimensions

Monoliths & Dimensions is an appropriate title for this 2009 release as it opens with the monolithic “Aghartha,” a 17-minute epic instrumental that starts off with gargantuan, bass-heavy distortion. The track features a guest vocal performance by Hungarian black-metal vocalist Attila Csihar, who is reciting a poem about the creation of a new earth. The painstakingly titled second track makes good use of a bewitching a cappella female choir before four electric guitars crash down — creating a powerful contrast. Mammoth-sized static ushers in slowed Sabbath-esque riffs on “Hunting & Gathering (Cydonia)” as a choir of male vocals provide the feeling that all those listening are being initiated into some kind of druid cult.