Band:	Ôros Kaù
Album:	Thanatos
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	September 2023

01. Nephtys
02. Let Neptune Strike Ye Dead (The Lighthouse)
03. Baal
04. Marbas
05. The Arcana XIII: Dawn Of The Red Scorpio
06. Bios-Phos-Metis

Would we really be expected to believe the same individual behind the dreamy, expansionist drone antics of Neptunian Maximalism and ZAÄAR is also in command of the blackened death juggernaut that is Ôros Kaù? Well.... I suppose in a world where a federally - indicted individual can still seek political office, anything is possible.

Guillaume Cazalet (or just "CZLT" as he goes here), is a fast - rising star in quite a few musical spheres: free jazz, drone.... and, yes, extreme metal as well. It could be argued that currently, his reputations in the former two realms exceed that within the latter. Probably true, but at the same time..... one would be unwise to sleep on Mr. Cazalet's rawer, more assertive work as well.

Ôros Kaù, a little one manner Guillaume got off the ground about 5 years ago, is essentially his take on the black/death metal mix. There are varying ratios to be found with this formula, and thankfully Ôros Kaù has already demonstrated an impressive ability at not sounding purely one - dimensional. This year's Thanatos, the second full length LP, is quite the impressive blend of gritty, razor sharp black metal riffing amped up by the occasional segue into more commanding, death metal - esque blasts and barrages. Leaving the description simply at that, however, would almost be an insult to CZLT's vision and all the different cards he's playing with here. With Ôros Kaù, this clever guy proves that he has several tricks up his sleeves. But he takes his time with them, keeps the cards close to his chest, and is content in revealing them as he's comfortable, not necessarily to suit the comfort of the listener.

There is certainly an organized pattern of stitching that unifies Thanatos into a cohesive whole. But it is also, thankfully, an excellent example of an "each track sounds a bit different from the next one" - type album. Opener "Nepthys," in this respect, may thus end up coming as a bit deceptive. With its powerful opening and the blitzkrieg, treble - heavy BM riffing that starts it, one could easily get the impression that the remaining 40 - odd minutes or so will follow suit from there. Not so. You've got a groovier, deliciously bass - heavy approach on "Let Neptune Strike Ye Dead." "Arcana XIII" dives deep into the "hypnotic black metal" angle, reinforced by some powerful clean vocals from Guillaume that have a very commendable uniqueness to them. It would be unfair to compare them purely to something like Urfaust or the chants you'd hear out of Emperor. While this may be a bold comparison, Guillaume's style actually reminds me a lot more of Leviathan's Wrest, in the sense of having that strange air about it of sounding something like a cross between chanting and shrieking. It's a powerful approach that's actually very rarely heard in the extreme metal spectrum, and when you do get it, it is quite the treat, indeed.

Guillaume Cazalet is, at least my book, easily becoming a metal musician who should be filed in everyone's database under "Powerful Visionary, Definitely Going Places." The most impressive thing about this man's work is that, diverse as it is genre - wise, a single thread of symmetry runs through it all. Ôros Kaù is certainly not ZAÄAR, not Neptunian Maximalism, and is even pretty removed sound - wise from Sol Kia as well, Guillaume's other black metal project. Yet even so, if one was paying enough attention, I'd like to believe one would be able to tell the same man is involved with all four even without eyeballing all the inner liner notes, Bandcamp details, and so on. A delicious, multifaceted release that only further solidifies CZLT's songwriting abilities over a broad range of material, Thanatos is a considerably zesty treat for this final quarter of 2023 that should be coming in as a priority on any extreme metal fan's queue list.