Këkht Aräkh has announced Morning Star, a new full-length album arriving March 27 via Sacred Bones Records, marking a powerful new chapter for the Berlin-based black metal project led by Ukrainian artist Dmitry, also known as Crying Orc. Alongside the announcement, the first single “Three winters away” is out now, offering an intimate and reflective glimpse into the album’s emotional core.
Recorded between Berlin and Stockholm, Morning Star captures a period of intense personal and artistic growth. The album refines Këkht Aräkh’s signature balance between raw black metal aggression and melancholic, immersive atmospheres, while embracing a warmer, more tactile sound shaped through tape Portastudio recording techniques. The lo-fi analog approach gives the record a grainy immediacy, allowing drifting melodies and sorrowful harmonies to linger with haunting clarity.
“Three winters away” reflects on the passage of time and life changes since the release of Pale Swordsman in 2021. Dmitry describes the song as intentionally open-ended, inviting listeners to decide for themselves whether the transformation it documents is one of loss, growth, or something unresolved. Musically, it bridges harsh intensity and wistful introspection, setting the tone for the album as a whole.
While Dmitry performs nearly all instruments on Morning Star, drums were recorded by Jonathan (Spira Me, Vanskapth, Olycka). The album also features a striking collaboration with Bladee on “Eternal martyr”, an unexpected yet natural pairing rooted in shared emotional directness and world-building. Additional sonic texture and abstract sampling were shaped by VS–55 and Varg2™, with final mastering handled by James Ginzburg (Emptyset, Osmium).
With Morning Star, Këkht Aräkh synthesizes the project’s past explorations with newfound clarity and vulnerability. Drawing from ’90s black metal tradition while embracing lo-fi experimentation and deeply personal songwriting, the album stands as both an arrival point and a continuation, an honest, introspective statement from an artist more fully inhabiting his own voice than ever before.
Pre-order here kekhtarakh.lnk.to/MorningStar
Morning Star, track list:
- Wänderer
- Castle
- Lament
- Genom sorgen (ft. VS–55)
- Angest
- Mörker över mörker
- Three winters away
- Drömsång
- Raven king
- Vigil
- Eternal martyr (ft. Bladee)
- Trollsång (ft. Spöke)
- Land av evig natt l
- Land av evig natt ll
- Gates
- Morning star
- Outro (ft. Varg2™)