By Dear Hollow
When the phrase “ritualistic” is used in metal, my immediate thought is darkness. Haunted fire, pulsing rhythms, eerie chanting, and the opaque blessings of hateful gods spring to mind, a noisy and terrifying descent into madness. Rarely do I think of the music Alukta offers. While tagged as “ritualistic black doom,” this is no Batushka or Death. Void. Terror. You won’t find the same emphasis on diminished chord progressions, the frightful voices cursing the pitch-black abyss, or the shadow of religion casting a pall across the proceedings. Alukta instead offers a sound that is transcendental and gentle, a representation of grief and passage with the dead among the living.
Alukta is a Belgian/French duo consisting of the renowned Déhà, whose long list of quality projects goes without saying,1 and Marie of Brouillard and 1927 – both of whom are also sole members of atmoblack band Transcending Rites. The act formidably utilizes Déhà’s history of doom, whose weight is derived from emotive progressions, as well as Marie’s knack for hypnotic blackened passages converging in a graceful expression of grief and devastation. Debut Merok takes influence after the Torajan people of Indonesia, particularly their funeral rites: from the placement of mummified bodies among everyday routines, elaborate and lengthy rituals to ensure their safe and gradual passage to the afterlife Puya, to the mass machete slaughter of water buffalo, pigs, and chickens as gifts to the dead on their journey. While Merok lacks the teeth you typically think of in doom-inflected black metal, Alukta’s melodic signature and sonic representations of grief and devastation warrant a look.
First and foremost, Alukta feels remarkably respectful in its debut. Guided by sustained guitar melodies and raw production anchored by thunderous dirge-like doom percussion, it feels ritualistic without feeling unnecessarily sinister. The Torajan people’s relationship with death is complex, an expression of crippling grief and uproarious celebration in equal measure, and Merok succeeds in capturing this in a sound that feels nearly gentle in its rendezvous. Déhà and Marie both lend their harsh vocals and cleans, and the tremolo is unmistakably influenced by second-wave, but that melody and a heavy dosage of ritualistic elements in chanting and pulsing percussion add dimension and complexity that represent it well. That’s not to say that there aren’t moments of fury or darkened progressions, but Alukta ensures balance and restraint. From explosive crescendos building ritualistic elements (“Matampu’,” “Kombengi”) to heart-wrenching melodies (“Lassez enter ceux qui pleurent,” “Des Teintes d’éternité”) and the more ominous and haunting leads that sway between yearning and furious (“Aluk To Dolo,” “Exuvia”), the album is purposefully written and gracefully executed.
While it is very much the point of the album, Alukta lacks the teeth that give doom its impact or black metal its rawness. You will find few riffs within Merok’s particular ritual, and the “heavier” passages owe their weight to more minor chord progressions and diminished leads, and that can drag over the album’s relatively short runtime. Those looking for the next Death. Void. Terror. or The Ruins of Beverast, will be disappointed in the relatively toothless sound, but may be swayed by the shifted focus – the gravity is implied through the emotion it invokes rather than the riffs Alukta offers. Its multilayered attack makes its sound mammoth in overlapping ritualistic chanting or vocals and drums, but aside from the thundering snare, the weight is not a metallic one, recalling more so the likes of Ianai or Heilung.
While Alukta does not meet expectations for your latest trek to scream into the abyss, that does not necessarily mean it’s not worth your time. Merok is evocative and devastating in its own way without utilizing black’s rawness nor doom’s weight to communicate ritual and grief, relying on yearning melodies and chord progressions instead. For those expecting to be slaughtered like water buffalo in the traditional trademarks of the genre hallmarks, look elsewhere. However, suppose you’re intrigued by the prospects of a beautiful and gentle expression of devastation and pain in another culture’s complex relationship with death, through Déhà and Marie’s patient songwriting and performances. In that case, Merok holds treasure abound – for this life and maybe the next.
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Transcendance
Websites: Too kvlt for webz
Releases Worldwide: May 2nd, 2025
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