Track By Tracks: Necht -The Inevitable Suffering (2025)

1. Over Ten Thousand Spears, B’ahn Rises Red:

We open the Lesser Meditation with an instrumental Sermon, inspired by the following quote from a damaged fragment of the Enkari-B'ahn Scrolls, as translated by Dr. Birgitta Olsson: “...from beneath the great walls they filed out; rank upon rank of them, and my heart was filled with pride. The bronze of their spear-tips gleamed and glinted in the first rays of light, red as if already blooded...” Imagine standing on the walls of the fortress, thousands of years ago. The clank of the great chains in their pulley as the gates are opened. The awe-inspiring sight of the many warriors filing out into a blood-red sunrise, marching to fight their ancient enemy. This is what we seek to conjure with this epic orchestration.

2. The Night That Knows No Dawn:

This Sermon blends orchestration with relentless, doom-laden black metal, fitting the subject matter at hand. The warriors of the Cult of B'ahn, sun-god of the Enkari, have no more knowledge of their future than any of us do; they cannot read their fate. But they are wise enough to accept that there is only the path that stretches forwards - there is no going back. And at the end of that path, there is only one certainty for everyone. To enter the Night That Knows No Dawn.

3. Dread Is The Consort Of The Dark:

With this Sermon, we introduce one of the most important figures of Enkari mythology: Asht'aran. His name literally translates as, "Once Was Aran"; Aran was a celebrated Zenith in the Cult of B'ahn, before being turned to rise again as the Consort of the Dark, champion of Karnifor. This track is frenetic, furious, and fast. The massive figure of Asht'aran carves his way through the battlefield and drives the dismayed Lashmiri to flee the battlefield. We hear the victorious chants of the Ishpani Serpent-Warriors - "Lashmir Kali-Ka!" (Death to Lashmir) and end with Asht'aran's roaring promise that he 'will burn and salt the earth'.

4. As Oars Through Blood:

We begin this Sermon with quiet menace. The captain of the ship narrates his fear as they set sail and oar to cross The Bloody Lake, the fearsome body of water separating the two warring city-states of Lashmir and Ishpan. He recalls the warnings to cross in silence, lest the spirits of the dead and drowned be roused, and then the music accelerates in intensity as a crew member's coughing fit rouses the Lake to a terrible vengeance. We blend orchestral horror with black metal ferocity to conjure the atmosphere of one more victim of The Bloody Lake.

5. ...And So In Silence We Did Sail Across The Bloody Lake:

The Lesser Meditation closes with an ambient composition. The ships that follow must do so with great care, lest they too suffer a horrible end. We hear the distant end of the monstrous storm, the screaming of the spirits in the water, as the prow of the ship gently carves through the waves of the massive lake.