Katharos – Of Lineages Long Forgotten Review

[Cover Art by Elinor Kantor]

As someone who has relapsed into a full-tilt addiction to video games, it is fascinating to find all the different types of YouTube videos that exist to discuss aspects of gaming the average player likely cares little about. One such video discusses the role of the color purple in gaming. YouTuber Razbuten focuses on purple representing corruption and goes through several theories as to how that came to be. Red is often associated with blood while green is one of the most common colors occurring in nature that we associate with growth and life, so those two are connected with health. Stars and distant lights regularly appear as white and yellow, so developers rely on those for navigation. Blue reminds us of the sky and oceans, which often remain a mystery and there you have magic.

Purple, however, does not occur in nature in large quantities and was once upon a time primarily a sign of wealth and royalty. When it comes to the proper view of how to think about and handle the richest and most royal, the French in the late 1700s certainly knew what the appropriate response was. Money and power corrupt, so purple is a sign of evil and power turned sour. The astute observer mentioned above calls attention to corruption spreading throughout Hyrule in Breath Of The Wild, poison-type Pokémon and evil doppelgangers like Waluigi as examples.

Oddly enough, if you look up the definition of Katharos, one of its biblical meanings is to be free from corrupt desires while another is to be purified by fire. It makes all the more sense then that the album cover for this Swedish group’s sophomore album is adorned with a massive purple beast that any gamer would see and be met with sweaty hands from equal parts excitement and nerves. Of Lineages Long Forgotten is overflowing with a corrupted evil and seething violence colored with purple hues of darkened symphonics. It swipes, smashes, chases, soars and sets aflame the ears as any good end-game boss would.

Labeling Katharos as a symphonic black metal band is appropriate, but unlike many others in the space, those elements rarely take center stage and, instead, shade the heaviness with darker heft. Of Lineages Long Forgotten’s primary weapon is one of martial rhythms. The guitars and drums lock into relentless battering patterns like an onslaught march of Uruk Hai on Helms Deep. The symphonic elements generally back those rhythms to add another layer of gravitas. That’s not to say they never get their moments of due. “Lay Yersinian Siege” not only starts with a massive orchestral movement but also tips into a slow dramatic sequence that will have you thinking of Willem Dafoe dropping to his knees and screaming at the sky as he dies in Platoon.

It’s that sense of war, battle and constant assault that makes Katharos most interesting. Even the production drops out much of the lower end to make every instrument fight for attention. There are plenty of melodies among those rhythmic batterings but they’re left clawing toward the top of a relentlessly building pile of drum-smacked bodies. “Feigned Retreat” sees melodic notes and a mini-solo soaring up to the sky like a flaming arrow that hits just the right oil-slicked parts of the ramparts where sword-swinging experts are in a flow-state of battle. Those melodic notes create a blaze of flaming notes that weave and dance like a choreographed fight sequence before an explosion of ugly squalls and dive bombs turns all those eloquent moves into a collapsed castle wall.

In case you’re wondering just how relentless, relentless truly is, the album doesn’t provide a moment to breathe until about halfway through the title track and that’s nearly 20 minutes in. The mix is incredibly even, making every element and instrument a fighter in the battle for attention.

The entire album and approach to songwriting come across as a hostile war. While Bolt Thrower views from a general’s distance letting you see the big picture of a battle with big riffs and slow tanks, Katharos is boots on the ground running through mud. This isn’t about big bombastic explosions, but rather a continuous volley of arrows, the ever-ringing clash of steel against steel, and the steady rapid-fire of a Gatling gun mowing down your ears.

Like another purple cover, Of Lineages Long Forgotten is Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia pissed off and paired with an army of purple killing machines.