Published: October 19, 2017 

 I’ve covered a few splits over the course of the last few months, and they’ve all been fantastic, oddly enough. It seems that 2017 has been a great year for all types of albums from full-lengths to splits, and I recently found out about another of the latter that peaked my interest, to say the least. I’ve been a fan of Chiral ever since his first full-length album, but this time his partners in crime are the US duo of Ah Ciliz, and the resulting split is quite a potent one indeed.

Black metal is the sort of thing that not only keeps churning out quality albums in general on a literally daily basis but whenever two bands come together for a split it tends to be an occasion that should be very much known. That goes double when it involves a mastermind like Chiral who’s created a cult following that’s very well deserved. But splits like this that help me is cover even greater new bands, and that definitely applies to Ah Ciliz who have done their fair share of work in the underground, and it’s clear with the three tracks they’ve contributed for “Origins” that they know what the fuck they’re doing. Five tracks in total make up this impeccable split with Ah Ciliz taking up aforementioned three and Chiral tackling the final two songs. All of these tracks enable each band to show off their individual strengths with Ah Ciliz bringing displayed of restrained power mixed with an odd beauty that black metal has been known to capture, and Chiral brings his signature sound that’s infused with nature in the form of an ethereal three minute slow burner before switching over to a very tasteful 15-minute trek through a mystical forest that Chiral seems to have risen from the earth itself with a simple beckon. “Origins” has an absolute world of mysticism about it, and these two groups bring it together wondrously well to bring an experience that’s not only very well crafted but also another testament as to the talent that still permeates the incredibly oversaturated realm of black metal in today’s underground.

I already knew going into this that Chiral was going to be on top of his game like he always is and I wasn’t disappointed, but what I’m really happy about is how well my first introduction to Ah Ciliz has gone. There’s nothing I can really point out as a flaw of the band with this split, and it results in being a very stylish display that I can’t help but call delicious. “Origins” is another fine addition to the great splits that have been thrown out this year, and it serves as a glorious highlight to two exceptional bands that both deserve throngs of bands for not only for their talent but also their dedication to creating good music.