Review: AŪKELS – Raynkaym

Year of release: 2021
Label: Werewolf Promotion
Rating: 8,4 / 10

This AŪKELS album appeared in my promo folder somehow by accident; I don't even remember how it happened. Turning it on, I thought that I was listening to some Lithuanians (in fact, the word “aūkels”, apparently, is taken from Sanskrit), and was very surprised to hear that they had invited Wojsław on vocals. Then, having studied the project more thoroughly, I discovered that AŪKELS is the new brainchild of Wojsław, which has an exclusively Polish residence permit.

I have found nothing good that was ever brought about by progress.

In AŪKELS, Wojsław works in the style of atmospheric metal, and the first thing worth emphasizing is the dissimilarity of the project's music to STWORZ, WĘDRUJĄCY WIATR, KRES or PRAV. If you do not specifically look for parallels, then you will not even guess about the connection. It's pure atmospheric metal with a wall of keyboards but not guitars. Wojsław doesn't jerk off these 20-minute dull tremolos like most of atmospherick types. For the four long songs that the album includes, he wrote a bunch of different riffs. Some are driven into rigid structures, others are brooding toffees. Riffs are constantly changing, creating the highest dynamics. This is not the usual case when a song consists of three and a half melodies. But at the same time, music creates the necessary space that owerwhelms and absorbs you. AŪKELS is a bit like early DRUDKH, but much more like WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM.

The most central and irrational faith among people is the faith in technology and economical growth. Its priests believe until their death that material prosperity bring enjoyment and happiness - even though all the proofs in history have shown that only lack and attempt cause a life worth living, that the material prosperity doesn't bring anything else than despair. These priests believe in technology still when they choke in their gas masks.

However, the parallel with WITTR should not arouse your suspicions. The two quotes above, which are printed in the booklet, are from the venerable Finnish ecofascist Pentti Linkola, and they convincingly sum up the album's message, which I almost entirely support. Linkola's views were to radical and right (pun intended) so the "green" pussies, secretly lobbying the interests of the corporations behind them, feared to have any connection with him. True, a year before his death, Pentti went a little goofy, speaking out in support of Greta Thunberg, but at the age of 86 it is already honorable that you can still talk and don’t piss in your pants too often, so it can be forgiven. In short, if an anti-urban stance is close to you and you think the world's population has to drop dramatically, “Raynkaym” must be in your collection. Great music with the right message is what we hope to find through countless new releases. I found one for you - don't thank me. In the end, I have only one question left: the designation of the fourth track as “IIII” instead of “IV” - is it a bug or a feature?

The album was released in jewel case with 8-page booklet that includes the aforementioned quotes and some photos of the Polish landscapes. There are no lyrics again, but they are not hard to find on the Internet. Details on a video.