ZAKAZ – Merki Sólar

RELEASE YEAR: 2025
BAND URL: https://zakaz.bandcamp.com/album/merki-s-lar-2

The Icelandic entity known as Zakaz recorded this bleak, blood-chilling opus a few years ago, and thanks to the good people over at Gymnocal Industries, the utterly compelling and frighteningly dark gem is now available on physical media and will hopefully reach a wide audience.

Rooted in icy and windswept black metal but infused with an uncanny ability to move seamlessly back and forth between epic parts, groovy passages, beautiful melodic sections, and relentlessly brooding moods, this is a highly engaging and superlative piece of work in which you will find heart, thought, feeling, and purpose. The introspective and moving “Í Tómum Veruleika” is a perfect example of how to craft a melancholic and majestic song capable of transporting the listener elsewhere – pure class and genius, folks. The record is also big on dynamics and variety, and the fact that the vocals come across as anything but traditional and are utilized as a proper instrument is absolutely brilliant. The second half of the disc is where things truly take flight and reach the pitch-black depths of grandeur with the title track arguably being the finest of the bunch. The underlying ritualistic aura of the material and its inherent rejection of modernist values make for a stellar and immersive experience that is downright addictive.

Merki Sólar is undoubtedly one of my new favorites and a go-to album when the mind and soul crave quality black metal that reeks of longing and dejection. You simply have to check this gloomy jewel out.