Time flies. I can’t believe it has already been three years since I reviewed this French one-man army’s debut full-length “À La Ruine”. I was quite fond of the attack back then, a harsh Black Metal base, with a healthy dose of wicked Thrash Metal blended into the mix. Powerful and quite catchy. Catchy a thing, ARCHVILE KING’s tracks on the split with SIMULACRE, also was. A direction that didn’t latch onto me, so I was quite excited to find out where “Aux Heures Désespérées” would take the band. It is more straightforward Black Metal this time around again. There’s still a little thrashing madness here and there, though there are even more Heavy Metal attacks in the darkened universe that Baurus has created. We still have some catchy guitar melodies, though more burning darkness and mayhem. The songwriting and concept of ARCHVILE KING is more mature and well thought this time around. The atmosphere is the main point here. Bleak and gripping, and it holds us tight, making it hard to let go of the album, before it is finished. The great guitar melodies are already mentioned and to top it off the vocals from Baurus are also great. Though I think it would have suited the album to have a little thinner and more bleak production, a tad like the production of the debut album, so the overall output would have been darker and more striking. The Dungeon Synth ending with ‘… Et Aux Hommes Misérables’ is well done and has a gripping mysterious atmosphere. To be honest, I have been getting more into Dungeon Synth the last couple of years, so it is water on my mill. Synth elements are used quite well throughout the album, take the well composed melancholic synth intro to ‘L’Excusé’, it works well – the whole track is working well, grey, melodic, melancholic, built upon a great guitar melody. The synth intro and elements throughout ‘Sépulture’ is also working quite well. All in all, a strong effort from ARCHVILE KING, to end a great Black Metal year. I like that Baurus has stripped most of the thrashing elements and has focused more on the atmosphere, without having lost intensity and energy. The bleaker moments suit the story of “Aux Heures Désespérées” well, and it is a more fluent musically album than the debut. Have a listen and find out how the battle against the Worm King will end out: www.facebook.com/archvilekingband, www.facebook.com/ladloproductions