In recent years I’ve become an avid fan of death metal, grindcore and goregrind from Slovakia and the Czech Republic and nearly every review I’ve written of bands from the region have been filled with praise. I wouldn’t have discovered the majority of these bands if it hadn’t been for my decision to pick up one album; Lykathea Aflame’s Elvenefris.

Elvenefris is unlike any other album I’d heard before, or since, blending raw, savage intensity, gentle harmonies, traditional Eastern European and Middle Eastern melodies with the technical precision of a heart surgeon. The album starts out with a soft gentle traditional melody before quickly turning into a raging blasting beast, and that’s just in the first 5 seconds of the album.

The melodies on this album are unlike anything I’ve heard in any metal album before, with each note having such a strong emotive presence that will simply leave you slack-jawed in wonder that anyone could write something so gentle, only to be shattered by a savage technical blasting and shredding that only Cryptopsy could hope to match.

Each song is equal part melody and equal part chaos and the seamless fusion of the two seemingly incompatible entities is simply breath-taking. One moment you’ll be swaying to the slow gentle melodic riffs and the next you’ll be thrashing about wildly to the blazing fast riffs and Flo Mournier-like blasts. It’s like taking one half Cryptopsy and one half Nile, chopping off half the brutality and replacing it with traditional Eastern European and Middle Eastern influences, and somehow creating something that’s more brutal than both Cryptopsy and Nile combined.

The guitar playing ranges from deeply emotive traditional and folkish riffs, to pure grind shredding, to thick death metal riffs, right back to the emotive style. There are rarely any leads and no solos, leaving the music to speak for itself. The riffing is technical, but without becoming overwhelming. The bass never breaks through the sound very strongly, but it does add another layer to the sound giving it a richer and full sound, especially during the heavier moments.

The drumming is some of the most varied you’re likely to hear on any metal album, as Tomas Corn plays to suit the riffing style and doesn’t mindlessly play in whatever style suits him best. He plays gently during the melodic moment and blasts like a man possessed during the pure grind moments.

The vocals of Ptoe are just as varied as the rest of the music as he ranges from a thickly accented clean vocal style to deep raspy guttural snarl. Whatever the moment calls for he provides.

Surprisingly strong additions to the music are the synths, which add another layer to the overall sound, making emotive moments sound even sadder. They’re used sparingly throughout the album, although on the track "On The Way Home" the synths do give the song a strong Fear Factory vibe in moments, but I’d hardly consider that a negative.

Bottom line is Elvenefris is one of the most unique and simply stunning extreme metal releases ever. The scary thing is the album clocks in at a whopping 72 minutes and throughout that entire span the album doesn’t get boring once. You’ll actually find yourself sitting there listening to the entire album beginning to end, and not just once, but repeatedly, it’s scary just how infectious this album truly is.

While I won’t go as far as to say this is the best extreme album ever released, it’s definitely up there and impressed me enough that several years ago I was on the verge of licensing the material and releasing it on my own label, but, well, everyone already knows what happened with that. All I can say is that if you don’t already own Elvenefris, be sure to find it, it’s well worth the trouble and the money. It’s just too bad the only other recording this band did before they split was a re-recording of one track from this album accompanied by classical musicians which turned out rather… well… weak. I’m just thankful they called it a day, because I don’t think there’s any realistic way they could have ever topped this.

Review byTeufel