Aethyrick / Apotheosis.

For here on Apotheosis do Aethyrick hold nothing back with their heartstrings-pulling melodicism. Never soft but neither categorically negative, their riffing and leads burst and sparkle with a passion and power that’s truly blanching, and the ever-so-tasteful layer of synths gilding it give the record an especially ethereal aspect: open thy heart and one will feel the gust of ALL, the spirit-unshackling majesty of boundless illumination. Indeed, Apotheosis fully brims with the band’s occult character, now many decades walking the Left-Hand Path, and immersion on the listener’s part is all but assured. And bringing it full circle (or Ouroboros, if you will) is the absolutely gorgeous cover art courtesy of the masterful Timo Ketola, one of the final pieces he completed a week before his untimely death.