Keeping this in mind there still is enough craft in the music to stand strong as a pure et simple „Black Metal" album to enjoy. And even more an „Occult Black Metal“ album because the lyrics reveal a broader knowledge of the concepts of kabbalah, the widely known Jewish mystic tradition as well as a deeper understanding of the Bible, here the Old Testament in particular. These days it seems to be some sort of trademark to have cabbalistic hints in lyrics to claim to be „occult“. While it seems up to insiders to decide what is surface knowledge and what displays a profound conceptual knwoledge, I will only say that there are some unconventional aspects in the lyrics which I will not dare to comment but to recommend to take a deeper look into.

The band says that this is a lyrical concept which revolves around the idea of „inversion“ that implies several levels of understanding and depth which are worthy to dive into. Coming back to the music itself the band really has added another level in comparison to their first release. The rather fast-paced songs are coming in with much variation in their average 4-min duration to prevent the listener from otherwise distraction. That same goes for the vcocal performance too, which includes spoken parts. The music keeps a fine balance between warm harmonies and harsh dissonant elements placed in every now and then. This makes it rather difficult to make some comparisons to other bands: some have found Dissection vibes or even Mgla-elements, but a straight line I cannot draw. While AMALEKIM did not invent BM anew it certainly has added some major contribution to where BM is standing today. This is beyond simple satanic provocation in a raw sound cloak, but is displaying intelligent lyrics in combination with an up-to-date fresh sound able to catch todays BM listeners from the very start. So everybody who considers himself/herself a BM freak should take a big bite from AMALEKIM „Avodah Zarah“ to taste the good that BM provides in 2023, to be assured of that BM is able to take a further step beyond its own boundaries. 

The review was written by Starduster for Undergrounded.de

1. Psalm I: Avodah Zarah
2. Psalm II: Efes Sefirah
3. Psalm III: Olam Teshuvah
4. Psalm IV: Tzel Hakarah
5. Psalm V: Litrof Rekanut
6. Psalm VI: Litfos Atziluth
7. Psalm VII: Mizmor LeQuayn
8. Psalm VIII: Hester Panim
9. The Disease