Review Summary: Mysterious black metal with huge emotional range
Last week, the supremely enigmatic Thét Älëf, detna hacëntara Trha Nönvéhhklëth, Jôdhrhä dës Khatës, Dlhâvênkléth fëhlätharan ôdlhënamsaran Ebnan - or, Thét Älëf for short - offered a small morsel of insight towards the internal mythology he is building with Trhä. In a brief, three-minute video posted on Youtube, Thét Älëf broke down the pronunciation of certain key phrases that have appeared throughout Trhä’s growing discography, which had all been named using an up-to-that-point indecipherable conlag titled “hadlhaj” curated by Thét Älëf himself. “My intention with this language has also always been to make it as unique as I could, so it truly doesn't draw much influence from any other languages, but rather my own intuition”, he explained in an interview with Invisible Oranges. In a similar fashion to the esoteric symbology used by the Les Legions Noire, this dense, and highly punctuated tongue added an air of individualistic mystique to a project that, by all means, already felt cryptic.
However, that is just one small piece of the mystery that lends Trhä such an allure; even with this peek behind the curtain, Thét Älëf is still quite inscrutable. New releases have a habit of materializing unexpectedly on Bandcamp, and though black metal serves as the foundation of Thét Älëf’s catalog, the way they approaches each new release seems to differ from the last as they continue to carve out the aural realm Trhä exists within. Between this dedication to anonymity, elements of world building, and genuinely thrilling material, Trhä has become wildly popular in the black metal underground despite doing almost nothing in terms of promotion for themselves. They’ve let word of mouth of carry their reputation, and it’s proven to be an effective marketing campaign.
Like many of his previous records, word of mouth is exactly how I came across Trhä’s newest album Vat gëlénva!!!, the project’s third effort released in just 2022 alone. The musician behind Trhä - revealed earlier this year to be Damián Ojeda of Sadness, Life, etc…- is well known for his prolific work schedule, but even for him, two Trhä full-lengths (the band had released its fourth record,
Mã Héshiva õn dahh Khata trhândlha vand ëfd datnen Aghen Ec*ës drhãtdlhan savd, less than a month ago) within such a short timespan is quite the feat. Nevertheless, this proximity has certainly not effected either the quality of material, nor Thét Älëf’s near boundless creativity; in fact,
Vat gëlénva!!! stands as both one of their best and most diverse ventures to date.
Vat gëlénva!!! plies the line between Thét Älëf’s more aggressive impulses, and the atmospheric, dungeon synth-esque tinkering introduced on last year’s phenomenal
Endlhëtonëg. Opener “Ljúshtaeshrhendlhë jecan glézma” is unlike anything we’ve heard from the project before. It’s the heaviest track in the entirety of Trhä’s discography, at times bordering death metal in its unwavering intensity. It opens a new avenue of expression for the project, one which Thét Älëf is unafraid to capitalize on throughout the rest of the record. The virulent tremolo riffing of “Grã sôhhlen bem rhôn trhãth*s” is melodic, but performed with enough force to blow the listener away in its wintry tempest.
Out of the five tracks, there are a couple that encapsulate the more whimsical atmosphere Trhä has been laying the groundwork for. “Ödënthändelä vòn la gönmëtwa” certainly contains its fair share of blast beats and larynx-shredding howls, but its silhouette is comprised entirely of synths that swell in prominence as the song progresses. One of the most important facets of Trhä is its allusion to “juvenescent magic” as Thét Älëf puts it, and this is the song where we see that principle made the most apparent, as youthfulness and exuberance radiate from every stroke of the keys. It speaks to a throughline in Trhä’s catalog, which is the project’s ability to immediately evoke this “juvenescent magic” or more simply put, nostalgia, and unearth bygone memories buried beneath the mundanity of adulthood.
Vat gëlénva!!! is a product of Thét Älëf at the height of his powers. These days weaving disparities and different moods and emotions together is something of common practice in black metal, but there is something so beguiling about the way Thét Älëf composes his music. Again, it returns to this air of mystique he enshrouds himself in while still being able to create black metal that possesses emotional range. There is truly nobody else out there right now doing it like they are, and their profile will continue to rise as long as this remains the case.
