Sunday, April 16, 2023

A Fresh Face in Black Metal: Këkht Aräkh



Këkht Aräkh was born Dmitry Marchenko in Ukraine. Growing up, his parents sent him to a music school and he began to learn guitar, piano, and music theory. From a young age his parents instilled in him a passion for making music and being a creative. He says that around his early teens he was forest introduced to black metal and gained a liking and appreciation for it. Writing that, "it somehow felt detached from all the metal music I'd been listening to".

In 2018, he decided to start making music as a solo endeavor and launched his career under the pseudonym: Këkht Aräkh. He developed the project under an idea of incorporating elements of high contrast and "ying and yang" and the name reflects that. The name, Këkht Aräkh, is in reference to the Irish god of healing and the Cambodian god of poisoning. Elements of this contrast are seen throughout his music as he plays with the themes of black metals and reaches beyond the boundaries to produce ballads and more.


In 2021, he signed with the label, Sacred Bones, which is not a metal label, but one that has a diverse range of musical talent. He chose to sign with them so he could 'promote musical diversity whilst keeping the core black metal vibe'. This is reflective of divergent thinking, as he puts an emphasis on going beyond what is typical of black metal musicians. It also reflects an openness to experience as he wishes to collaborate outside of the narrow walls of the black metal genre.

Many of his songs deal with extremely emotional subjects and Këkht Aräkh writes that he has to do a lot of introspection to figure out what he wants to write and how to express himself. He wants to make black metal more accessible and welcoming to people, and writes his music with themes that he hopes will feel hopeful and welcoming.

I would highly recommend checking out his 2021 debut album, 'Pale Swordsman'
and his most recent album 'Night and Love'.


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2 comments:

  1. SebastianApril 16, 2023 at 6:05 PM

    A good friend of mine plays in a black metal band and it is very different from most mainstream music interests. This artist does seem to really integrate different elements into the songs, especially things normally outside the genre like slower tempos and acoustic guitar solos. There is a sort of creative expression that is inherent to genres like black metal. It was never something I was a fan of before my friend started playing, but Këkht Aräkh seems to be a very interesting voice in the scene.

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  2. EmmaMay 3, 2023 at 11:01 AM

    This was an interesting read. I do not know much - if anything, really - about black metal but I will take your recomendation, especially with his efforts to make it more accessible. I find the story behind the name especially cool, I'm curious how that translates to music.

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