TYAKRAH is a two-piece hailing from the unholy area of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Active since 2016 but unknown to me so far, the project has released their first ouput "Wintergedanken“ via Satanath Records. Currently Black Metal has not so many releases, which managed to catch my attention for more than one or two spins, so I was curious to hear some new underground stuff from that style and already the intro, ‘Praeludium – Auf Kalten Wegen‘, sounds quite interesting, as the keyboard immediately reminded me of older EMPYRIUM or my secret love OCTOBER FALLS. The first real track ‘Gefrorne Tränen‘ heavily reminds me of FORGOTTEN TOMB during their "Songs To Leave“ era before turning to a more melodic approach. Similar to old FORGOTTEN TOMB, TYAKRAH mostly slows down the tempo and comes up like a Black Metal version of old KATATONIA. This is not negative at all, as their interpretation is mixed with some raw Black Metal but especially the lead guitar and its melodies sound fantastic and matured. They manage to capture the dark and melancholic beauty of doomed Black Metal similar to KATATONIA until their "Sounds Of Decay“ EP. Also the idea to use clear, nearly spoken passages as vocals here and there is very good and would fit very well to the songs but unfortunately it is effected a little bit thin. Anyway the talent to write fantastic songs and having a clear vision of how their music and vocals should sound like is definitely there. Especially the mentioned lead guitar and the drum-work are both fantastic and the atmosphere is very unique and cold. I was quite impressed how far the project has developed within the short period of time, the guys are working together. "Wintergedanken“ continues with raw and grim vocals taking the listener into a cold and frozen world while the guitars again spread this freezing melancholy before they increase the speed in favour of a raw Black Metal inferno. ‘Interludium – Eisige Andacht‘ is a little well-done instrumental break with church bells and choral chants. ‘Fährten Im Schnee‘ again appears very grim but with this certain special melancholy, only the above mentioned bands manage to create, same goes for ‘Erstarrende Nacht‘ before ‘Postludium – Ende Des Weges‘ closes this well-done debut. Bands like TYAKRAH are the cause, that I still like to check underground material because there are these few talented bands out there, creating small little treasures like "Wintergedanken“. Fans of the mentioned bands should check the following sources: www.facebook.com/tyakrah, www.satanath.com