KËKHT ARÄKH ANNOUNCES FIRST EVER LIVE PERFORMANCE
TAKING PLACE AT SLAKTKYRKAN IN STOCKHOLM,
29TH OCTOBER
MORNING STAR OUT NOW VIA SACRED BONES
Këkht Aräkh‘s distinctive introspective black metal will be performed live for the first time this October 29th, a very special show that will take place at Slaktkyrkan in Stockholm.
Tickets on sale now at this link. Morning Star is out now via Sacred Bones.
Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, Këkht Aräkh’s Morning Star emerges from a period of intense personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with textured, immersive soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast. The lo-fi warmth of the tape Portastudio imbues the record with a tangible, analog immediacy, lending grit and character to every note while allowing drifting, melancholic melodies to linger.
Since its origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole mastermind behind the Këkht Aräkh project, has consistently sought to carve a distinctive path within black metal. Tracing back to 2014, his early experiments exposed the gaps he felt in the genre, culminating with his debut under the Këkht Aräkh moniker, Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018), and the albums Night & Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), later reissued by Sacred Bones Records. Across these releases, Dmitry, now based in Berlin, established a signature contrast between ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads: a dynamic that reaches new depth on Morning Star.
With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi warmth, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. It is a deeply personal statement. It is an album that is both an arrival and a continuation of Këkht Aräkh’s artistic journey.
PRAISE FOR MORNING STAR:
“The way Marchenko insists on drawing lines of uncomplicated beauty through the howling darkness of these songs gives his solitude a luxurious, almost decadent quality.”
– PITCHFORK
“… if you’ve waited patiently since Pale Swordsman, you’ll have a ball sitting alone and taking a bath in this”
– KERRANG!
“There’s always been a distinctly dreamlike quality to Aräkh’s songs, and this album really leans into that. Just listen to the stunning Drömsång; a heartbroken hymnal that floats along with calm vocals and hazy, slowcore instrumentation… every song has secrets to spill”
– LOUDER THAN WAR
“Unmistakenly lo-fi black metal that liberates itself from corpse paint constraints by introducing soaring sad songs and delicate electronic ambient textures. A troubadour of deprivation.”
– SONIC SEDUCER
“reaches outside the usual niche inhabited by those who travel the corpse paint path.”
– THE ARTS DESK
