Band:	Esoctrilihum
Album:	Astraal Constellations Of The Majickal Zodiac
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	May 2023

Disc I [Part I - In The Mystic Trance Of Tȃimonh Ѳx, The Cosmic Bull God]
01. Arcane Majestrïx Noir
02. Saturnyôsmachia
03. Atlas Eeïm
04. Tȃiɱonh Ѳx
05. Ѳxphiliastisɱe
06. Uran-Ѳx Death Star

Disc II [Part II - In The Presence Of AlŭBḁḁl, The 5-Eyed Star Beast]
01. AlŭBḁḁlisɱe
02. Shadow Lupus Of Sæɱons-Ŧuhr
03. Skorpïus Nebŭlah Tyrant
04. Lunåår Phalanx Of Ω Draco
05. Säth-Oxd, Stellar Basilisk
06. Omniversal Ȥodiac War

Disc III [Part III - In The Mouth Of Zi-Dynh-Gtir, The Serpen-Time Eater]
01. Ȥi-Dynh-Ɠtir : Eon Devourer
02. Serpatɧei-Ӿythioŋ : Reptilian Time Reversed

Asthâghul, you had French black metal by the ballz. What the Hell happened, man?

Without question, Esoctrilihum was one of the most interesting bands to emerge out of the French BM scene in the latter half of the past decade. A prolific one manner revolving around an individual known only as Asthâghul, the project at first started off with some quasi - symphonic melodic black metal, before descending into some much darker, at times almost psychedelic material with the likes of Inhuma and Pandaemorthium. Esoctrilihum arguably peaked in 2020 with the colossal Eternity Of Shaog, an album that this reviewer personally considered the best of that year for black metal. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, once you reach the top, you've got nowhere to go but down. The next Esoctrilihum album, 2021's Dy'th Requiem For The Serpent Telepath, was not as awe - inspiring as its predecessor. But it did, nonetheless, offer a punchier, meaner delivery, and still maintained much of the project's distinct sense of melody and harmony. A less impressive release, perhaps, but one that was still fairly solid overall.

Over the past 2 years, however, the quality of the Esoctrilihum releases has been steadily declining. The music is very much beginning to take on a feeling of "quantity over quality," and nowhere is this more evident than with this recent effort, the whopping Astraal Constellations Of The Majickal Zodiac. 2 hours and 10 minutes. I don't know about the rest of you all, but it's more or less become my standard policy that if an album is going to stretch that long, it damn well better have NO. FILLER. WHATSOEVER. * (See: The Maniacal Vale, Blood Geometry, Éons, etc).

Regrettably, this is simply not the case with Astraal Constellations. This lumbering Behemoth is split into three separate “Parts,” each about 40 minutes long. The album kicks off with an approach that is slightly reminiscent of that which Asthâghul took on Dy’th Serpent: blasty black metal underscored by some nice melody, which occasionally goes a bit more groovy and midtempo, augmented by Asthâghul’s trademark shrieks and howls. It’s not a bad sound, but considering the context of the past 2 or 3 Esoctrilihum albums, it’s a lot less impactful because, well… it just feels like it’s been done already. It doesn’t particularly help that each track is, on average, at least 6 minutes long, either. If you’re already well – versed with the Esoctrilihum discography, and are looking for something new here, getting all the way through Astraal Constellations may very well end up being a bit of a chore.

From a certain perspective, if you’re simply looking for some punchy, quasi – symphonic black metal with powerful vocals, Astraal Constellations will probably satisfy. There are some good cuts here, in particular the more midtempo ones (I’ve always been of the opinion that this approach works better for Asthâghul than his blasty one), such as “Atlas Eeïm,” “Tȃimonh Ѳx.” and “Shadow Lupus of Sæmons-Tuhr.” But the more one listens to the album, the more the impression is given that it’s missing some vital something to vault it to the proverbial “WOW!” level. And this probably comes down to the fact that the album very much overstays its welcome, and could benefit from a lot of fat trimming, combined with its relative lack of presenting new ideas for the Esoctrilihum sound.

Taking all of the Esoctrilihum albums into consideration, I’d say the project has been on a slow decline in quality over the past 2 years. Asthâghul has been at his most prolific ever, yet the songwriting and originality areas are being compromised as a result. Don’t get me wrong, compared to the rest of what’s going on in black metal at present, this is still fairly above – average work. But when compared to what has come before for Esoctrilihum specifically, Astraal Constellations comes off as something of a rather unimpressive dud. Considering that this album is subdivided into three separate “Parts,” it may have perhaps been more effective if Asthâghul had simply released each Part as its own separate album, albeit with a noticeably different “feel” for each one. Ultimately, as much as it somewhat pains me to say it, I’ll be marking Astraal Constellations as a rather forgettable installment in the Esoctrilihum discography, and hoping that with whatever he offers us next, Asthâghul genuinely brings something to the table that we haven’t heard before.