PLEASE NOTE: This item is a pre-order and is scheduled to be released on March 27th, 2026. All orders including this item will ship on or around the release date. If your order includes additional items, your entire order will be held until all items are ready to ship. All scheduled ship dates are estimates and subject to change.
Going Underground / Seasick / End of an Ear exclusive Silver With Black Splatter vinyl limited to only 300 total copies!
Morning Star finds Këkht Aräkh arriving at a truer, more refined version of himself.
Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, the album emerges from a period of intense
personal and artistic growth, blending aggressive black metal passages with immersive,
textured soundscapes that feel both intimate and vast.
Since his origins in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Dmitry (a.k.a. Crying Orc), the sole master-
mind behind the project, has sought a distinctive path within black metal. This vision
unfolded through his debut Through the Branches to Eternity EP (2018) and the albums
Night & Love (2018) and Pale Swordsman (2021), establishing a signature tension between
ferocious, visceral black metal and delicate, introspective ballads. On Morning Star, this
dynamic reaches new depth. Created at a point of artistic clarity, the album explores a
rawer, more personal emotional palette, shaped by stress, anxiety, and long stretches of
writer’s block, giving it rare immediacy and vulnerability.
Dmitry recorded nearly all instruments himself, with drums by Jonathan (Spira Me,
Vanskapth, Olycka). Bladee contributed vocals and co-wrote lyrics on “Eternal Martyr,”
an unexpected collaboration that reveals intuitive chemistry. VS--55 and Varg2™ add ab-
stract sampling and subtle textural design, giving Morning Star its distinctive grain and
analog warmth, while James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium) handled final mastering,
enhancing dynamic depth and atmospheric richness.
Several tracks revisit earlier material with fresh perspectives. “Wänderer” and “Dröm-
sång” are partially rerecorded or fully reimagined. Intense, driving passages collide with
sparse, contemplative interludes, producing a landscape both visceral and haunting.
Themes of isolation and wandering surface in “Wänderer,” dreamlike melancholy in
“Drömsång,” existential struggle in “Angest,” and reflections on time and transformation
in “Three winters away”
With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes past explorations with new collaborative
energy, producing a record that honors 90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi
warmth, melancholic melodies, sonic experimentation, and emotional candor. The
result is a deeply personal statement—an album that is both an arrival and a continua-
tion of his artistic journey.
Tracklisting:
1. Wänderer
2. Castle
3. Lament
4. Genom sorgen (ft. VS--55)
5. Angest
6. Mörker över mörker
7. Three winters away
8. Drömsång
9. Raven king
10. Vigil
11. Eternal martyr (ft. Bladee)
12. Trollsång (ft. Spöke)
13. Land av evig natt I
14. Land av evig natt II
15. Gates
16. Morning star
17. Outro (ft. Varg2TM)