Imha Tarikat presents a fresh and exciting take on black metal. Hailing from Germany, their brutal sound was created as an emotional pressure valve for its founder, Kerem Yilmaz aka Ruhsuz Cellât. They grow in intensity and fierceness with every release, and they have just announced their forthcoming third album entitled Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World.
While we’re cooling our heels, the band released their first single, Radical Righteousness, along with a pro-shot videoclip, produced by Witzki Vision.
“The first new single, ‘Radical Righteousness’, deals with the withdrawal from addiction to negativity, conflict, violence, and other forms of emotional suffering”, Kerem Yilmaz writes. “This process is depicted as a standoff between the protagonist’s mental depths and his antagonist speaking to him from within, which is represented as a sublime and obscure being. He welcomes the protagonist with open arms, and tries to make him drown in the pool of pain again. After gazing upon the essence of all these unbearable emotions, there comes a change of heart. The price of grief has been paid and it is time to emerge as a greater being than before. The antagonist has to be eliminated by all means as it only intends to destroy.”
Watch the vicious video clip for Radical Righteousness below:
Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World
Vicious and vitriolic, full of raw anger and burning hatred, yet at the same time bursting with live and lingering on moments of astonishing beauty – Imha Tarikat‘s third album “Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World” announces its inherent contradictions and struggles already in the title.
Essentially a black metal album in the crackling dry and humourless German style that renounces all bombast and often folk-ish undertones of its Nordic counterparts, Imha Tarikat‘s lyrical and musical mastermind Kerem Yilmaz aka Ruhsuz Cellât has once again created new layers and expanded the dimensions of his unique compositions.
While adding even more throat-torturing approaches to his physically violent singing style, the ferocious drumming and relentless churning of frost-covered guitar strings remain as the either ice cold or glowing hot foundations of Imha Tarikat. Then again, while his songs twist and turn through the black void, they sometimes take surprising detours into passionate moments and solos rather derived from heavy metal, hard and occult rock, and even a knife-tip of punk.
Lyrically, Imha Tarikat continue to function as some kind of an encrypted diary recording Kerem Yilmaz’ personal experiences, growth, and fascinations: “I literally let myself go insane to create an absolutely authentic experience”, the singer and guitarist reveals about the recording process of Hearts Unchained, which not surprisingly revolves around inner conflicts, suffering, escalating emotions, but also catharsis and redemption.
The release date for Hearts Unchained – At War with a Passionless World is set for December 2, 2022.
Tracklist
1. Intro: Deeper Within
2. Radical Righteousness
3. Touch of Mercy
4. Brute Majesty
5. Flood of Love (The Beast Trigger)
6. Interlude: Birth of Grandeur
7. Dominator Proselytism Tactics
8. Streams of Power – Canavar
9. Stardust Wisdom (Manifest of the Deity to the Unkeen)
10. Beast of Sovereignty
Drums, guitars, and vocals recorded & produced by Kerem Yilmaz
Drums recorded and produced by Konstantin Kunow at Black Wolf Music Production, Cologne
Mixed by Michael Zech
Mastered by Victor Santura
The album cover and illustration is done by Artem Grigoryev. The sigil and other additional illustrations are made by Next Gate Art and Raul CJ Peña.
You can pre-order the album, as well as follow the band, at the following links:
Upcoming live performances
Imha Tarikat‘s intense performance can be witnessed live next week on September 30, as part of Prophecy Fest in Balve, Germany. For the full daily schedule for this festival, see our previous article.
© article cover photo by Lara Fioretti.
