Review by Jeger on June 3, 2025.

There is no light here… Only the dimming of the once stark luminance that was yesterday and the void of tomorrow - a chasmic hollow that yearns for fulfillment - the plight of the depressed one. As he walks the days, asleep spiritually, yet awake in the physical sense, he finds that there’s little to no hope to be found; nothing rich to discover; only an upturning of the poisoned soil of perdition. Gasping for air within the dark, as if he’s drowning in a vast, cold sea - a speck of life forlorn to a forgetful God. This is more than thematics. This is the experience of the cursed ones and a lens into Hier Ist Kein Licht - the third independently released LP by Germany’s Arkuum… 

Atmospheric Post-Black Metal? As someone who’s grown quite fond of the PBM movement as of late, when I was submitted this record for review, I was intrigued. There’s simply no denying bands like Harakiri For The Sky and Fen whose remarkable adaptations for Black Metal, their contemporary and influentially nuanced vision of music that transcends typical genre classification, just demands admiration. So, here we have Arkuum - an enterprising collective envisioned by one Arkas, and from what I’m hearing out of their third LP, Arkuum is destined for a substantial future. The melancholy, like the greyest of days during the opening titular track; a fastening of depression’s loathsome crest upon your soul. The music is dreamlike, tranquil and desperate - a reflection of one’s innermost darkness. Huge distorted riffs with somber clean parts that lurk just beneath the surface like frigid water below an icy winter’s crust upon a desolate loch, ring with crisply lethal tones. 

Slow-burning to embers like the fading flames of a yearning hearth’s fire that barely warms the eve is the following track, 'Selbstentfremdung' during its opening moments. Temped tremolo riffs and segmented double-bass currents give way to ethereal guitar tones and feathered blast-beats. Really feeling it now; misery-drenched vibes akin to something off of a Depressive Black Metal record; something like Advent Sorrow’s “As All Light Leaves Her”. Toiling away within the crevices of your heart, dredging through the pit of your gut with every dismal passage. 

Hier Ist Kein Licht offers five epic album cuts that are all journeys within themselves. The album closes with 'Herz'. Letting go… Giving up. The fight is for the steadfast of heart and there’s simply nothing left. As if the preceding cuts weren’t depressing enough… Melodies that intoxicate; providing you with the courage to end it all, or to possibly reach an epiphany. Could it be that there’s a reason to go on? Could it be that this closing dirge is one of renewal? Doesn’t sound like it. This is epic suffering soundscaped by suspenseful guitar parts that hit like a straight shot of cortisol. Inducing the anxiety of a hundred panic attacks during the final moments of what’s been a pretty remarkable album. Hier Ist Kein Licht is a feat to be proud of, and as far as Arkuum is concerned, the grey azure is the limit. Hier Ist Kein Licht is an album that you will feel to your core. 

Rating: 8.2 out of 10