This band showed up on my Spotify account when it was playing "suggested songs" after listening to one of the CD's in my library of black/death metal bands.
I hadn't ever heard any of their stuff before, but I fucking liked what I heard. I just finished listening to the first record The Dreaming l again. The next record Melinoe, is awesome as well.
Hopefully, there will be another record in the future, and they'll tour the US.

Oh boy. You have no idea what you're about to set off with this thread here, lol.

This is a good band, they remind me a lot of Watain. However, I am getting a feeling these guys are also racist somehow.

Melinoe is a fantastic record. I haven't much listened to anything earlier yet though.

Yeah, i REALLY liked Melinoe when I heard it, but then I realized some of the ideologies and other projects they've been aligned with, and I can't enjoy it anymore.

I also thought they had incredible artwork. Ah well. There are hundreds of other bands that are great that don't have the issues attached to them.

I've watched an interview with Naas Alcameth from AKHLYS earlier today on the podcast Into The Necrosphere, and the topic of those "problems" came up pretty early in the interview. He denied ever supporting or defending those "rumors", and said it was all bullshit.
The people who have suggested otherwise have never even contacted or talked to him.
That's good enough for me.
I agree about the band's artwork, it's fucking cool.

What rumors? The use of an Evola sample on a Nightbringer record and the interview of him speaking positively of Evola? Or him wearing far-right symbols and hanging out with far-right people? https://www.bluntmag.com.au/music/why-a ... a-in-2023/

What does "far right" mean to you anyway? Who/what are/is Evola? Define a far right symbol that you've seen anyone wearing.
Unless someone has actually done something to intentionally harm anyone, who fucking cares?

"Far-right" is not a hard concept to grasp nor explain. The wikipedia intro and overview do a pretty good job of explaining what it is and why it sucks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far-right_politics

Julis Evola is cited in that wikipedia summary as he is one of the main ideological founders of Italian fascism (and fascism in general) and helped build the Italian Fascist Party's race laws. He also contributed a very occult and esoteric angle to fascist and neo-Nazi beliefs, which has helped feed into many occult fascist ideas that are popular today among that crowd, including what's called "esoteric Hiterlism / Nazism," which is influential with a lot of neo-Nazi and violent far-right groups today.

If you read the Akhlys section of the article I linked, it answers your question about Evola, highlights Naas's misunderstanding of or purposefully ahistorical descriptions of his work and influence in Italian fascism on other podcasts, and specifically calls out and explains the Nazi symbols he and his friends wore before, sharing photographs of them all wearing the symbols.

My point is that these aren't "rumors." These are his actions that we have evidence of. Seeing as how he's willing to lie or misrepresent a well-studied and well-documented historical figure and ideological founder of fascism to downplay his earlier praise of him, I believe any of his comments on his actions and beliefs that aren't apologizing and owning up them as mistakes should be taken with a grain of salt.

I think that putting out music to spread fascist beliefs is intentionally harming people because its goal is to spread fascist beliefs and actions, which are harmful. (Edited to add that if you read that article, you'll see how he's friends with some people who run a weird far-right fitness clothing brand called Operation Werewolf which is connected to an armed militant group call Wolves of Vinland. Both of those groups have connections to Lyndon McLeod, the guy who went on a shooting spree in Denver, CO in 2021 that was driven by his far-right beliefs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Denv ... _shootings so Naas is very closely associated to someone who has done harm to others.)

I care about this instance in particular because I loved The Dreaming I and was excited for Melinoë and Aoratos, one of Naas's side projects that is very good, but then I found out all of these other connections and it ruined the music for me.

The more annoying thing than all the johnny-come-latelys who come up in here to complain about how every thread devolves into calling out sketchy bands are all the deniers WHO CAN'T USE THE FUCKING SEARCH FUNCTION!!!!!

Ya'll are damn tiresome.

Where the heck have you been all this time as an AKHLYS fan, for example, to claim you've never heard of the accusations? Just search this very forum before creating numerous threads about all these bands because we've discussed these bands and topics to death! Do that before disingenuously asking fucking stupid shit like What does "far right" mean to you anyway? Who/what are/is Evola? Define a far right symbol that you've seen anyone wearing. Unless someone has actually done something to intentionally harm anyone, who fucking cares?

You don't know what far right means, you apparently don't know what black metal means, so what makes you qualified to express an opinion on either subject? What exactly are you bringing to the discussion? Maybe you should shut the fuck up and maybe read a book before you tell us what we should care about.

This is one of the best contemporary black metal bands and one of my favourites. With only two LPs (i don't count the ambient farts) they established themselves as a powerhouse on the scene. Both Akhlys metal albums are up there in the same league with Paracletus and Hallucinogen.

As to "controversies" I couldn't care less.

Yeah well, the "controversies" linger and have left a bad taste in the mouth of all who agreed that this band had pretty great releases.

It will never not be amusing how these bands shoot themselves in the foot when they are gaining traction.

It's been too long since WW 2 or something I guess. Kinda thought the default understanding of someone being a nazi is that it's a radical ideology you cannot divorce from violence against minority groups based on, idk, every lick of history about nazis and neo-nazis ever. Where do you clowns come from where you're taught that nazism is an idle political ideology where the entire group isn't complicit in ongoing violence. Do you think these are libertarians who spend their lives just getting owned and doing nothing? Outrageous ignorance.

Anyway, the dude very much seems to be far right leaning but this is like tippy top of fash bands, very good music.

Evola was a strange beast. Far right indeed, and sometimes collaborating with fascists, but never a fascist himself. He saw potential in the fascist movement but also critiqued it. One of the few who did during fascism time in power. Some of these writings are collected in the book that is named something along the lines of "Fascism viewed from the right". he's sometimes refereed to being further right than fascists. He was what has been named a traditionalist in the vein of Rene Guenon but with a stronger kshatriya leaning. He did speak of race but denied the importance of biological race. He spoke instead of "spiritual race". It is very true that he's been influential in modern fascist or NS movements even if he wasn't a clear cut fascist himself. He was spiritually focused and preferred a society built on tradition which was centred around an axis mundi of traditional truths. He's quite far from my own opinions but I recommend anyone to read him who wants to experience a thinker with a totally alien worldview to what we're generally used to.

Amazing band!!

Yeah, very alien. He definitely was more fascist than the Italian fascists in a way, right? It’s why he described himself as “superfascist” - he felt that the political and “material” goals of fascism were only pet way there and there was a need for a spiritual fascist rebirth, hence his popularity in the occult and esoteric far-right movements now. When I call him a fascist, I mean it in how we describe fascism in broad far-right terms vs an adherence to the Italian Fascist Party. I think the spiritual aspect is quite unique to people like him, Helena Blavatsky, Savitri Devi, and Guenon like you say. It’s embraced by many people now with people like Steve Bannon drifting to it. I think that spiritual aspect is key to understanding this thread that is quite dangerous today and it’s not an aspect a lot of anti-fascists really think about or address.

Benjamin Teitelbaum, a professor at UColorado, Boulder wrote a good book about that whole movement. He also wrote one about the music of Nordic radical nationalists that’s on my to read pile.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/war-for-et ... 0062978455
https://bookshop.org/contributors/benjamin-r-teitelbaum

I got into them just before the Melinoe album was released and was disappointed to hear about the controversies. I have seen both his interviews with that sycophant "Into The Necrosphere" where Naas will just have a cry about cancel culture and not actually address any of it with no push back whatsoever from the interviewer and then they switch gears to talk about something else.

It's concerning reading all the youtube comments talking about how he sounds like such an intelligent guy when the more I hear from him the more he seems like a complete moron.

Actions speak louder than words. Just listen to the music, and fuck the politics.

what are the actions speaking louder than the words in this situation

I agree that his actions of hanging out with a bunch of (potentially violent) far-right gym bros, wearing Nazi symbols, recording vocals in SS castles, and using fascist quotes as samples to songs speak a lot louder than him saying that he’s not far-right and is actually just misunderstood.

https://eventbuzz.co.il/lp/event/dybbukfest

They just played in Tel Aviv, some days before the massacres, with The Ruins of Beverast, Afsky, Darvaza and Baxaxaxa but obviously guys here know better.

p.s. that Melinoë is a FANTASTIC record

You don't get it? If the hasn't actually done something(an action), then his "words" don't amount to anything, they're just words. You're over reacting and putting labels on someone you don't even fucking know, or probably don't like, because of politics. There's more to life(and music) than politics.
In other words, he's innocent until proven guilty.

Nice. Great lineup.

That means literally nothing.

Is "I can't be a Nazi because I've been paid to play in Tel Aviv" the new "I can't be a racist because I have black friends"?

I'm never quite sure whether or not I should be surprised that someone who is allegedly 64 years old has such monstrously stupid views on the world. There is not always a clear divide between words and actions. Expressing your admiration for self proclaimed "superfascists" is an action. Hanging out with neo nazis while wearing nazi symbols is an action. With fascism (one of the far right ideologies you had so much trouble identifying) it's "just words" and "just politics" until it isn't. The escalation from words to real world actions is an inevitable part of fascism's growth, and you're a total simpleton for not being aware of this.

That's actually a minus for Akhlys because they played the same bill as The Ruins of Beverast, whose frontman Meilenwald is notorious for saying some 20 years ago that Germany has a problem with criminal maladjusted turks and africans. Nazi bin

Wow I separate art from the artist because we're all bad people but I don't shove my head in the sand. I bet I know where your support lies in 2024.

I think your time could be better spent than toiling endlessly over a band's politics. I suspect a lot of you could use a hobby, a ladyfriend, or a job.

I saw Akhlys open for Mgla last year at the Brick. They were good, but not as good as Mgla.

I mean, metal music and being a part of the subculture and community around it is our hobby so we’re talking about metal artists?

Allegedly 64 years old, really? Why the hell would I lie about my age? This is a forum for discussing metal music/bands, not fucking politics. Grow the hell up and quit judging people you don't even fucking know.
Your opinion of me, or anyone else for that matter only seems to mean something to you.

" Words always lead to action", are you fucking kidding me. What's he going to do, try to overthrow this country? We're already being led here in the US by the largest group of corrupt, narcissistic, incompetent, senile pieces of shit in the history of this country. There needs to be some serious changes in this country, but definitely not the way you'd like to see it change.

I'm here to talk about music, and about the bands that I listen to. Politics and music do not mix.

Shhh. Nobody tell him.

Funny you should mention that.


Maybe. If he could he would, I'd guess.


Tell that to Mr. Akhlys. He put the politics in his own music. I'm just commenting on it.