Artist: Likno
Country: Greece
Label: WolfKult Religion
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
On the same day that fireworks lit the sky to call for the end of 2025, Likno had a little thing to celebrate as well. Conceived in that same year, the band gave birth to their sophomore record ‘Summit and Trench’, once again through Wolfkult Religion.
The Greek band had previously impressed with their self-titled debut, an album that sounded a far distance away from their Hellenic homeland shores, and rather captured the spirit of the Norwegian scene of the 90’s. And their newest album hasn’t changed that influence much. In fact, you could argue that some of the remnants of melodicism and occasional bombastic keys that somewhat reminded me of Varathron are entirely absent on ‘Summit and Trench’. A conclusion of sort certainly is that Likno’s second album twists the formula of the band on the debut slightly, yet without losing the core of its sound.
‘Summit and Trench’ is still very much based on Norwegian Black metal, and comparisons with Enslaved, Satyricon and Kampfar certainly apply. Yet, the pace of the two lengthy Black Metal tracks on ‘Summit and Trench’ is overall considerably lower than on ‘Likno’, aiming for a hypnotising formula that builds on atmosphere. Each of these tracks takes time to expand the atmosphere, one that as a whole is significantly colder than on the debut. As a consequence, the warmer Heavy Metal riffs of the debut are all but gone, and the keyboards have been given a more frequent role as atmosphere-makers.
Opener ‘From Summit to Trench’ presents this slightly rawer, more entrancing approach by meticulously building the atmosphere with only slight variations in the main riff. It has a sense of twist in it that reminds me of Immortal and Inquistion, yet played at a considerably lower tempo. The vocals have a somewhat sharper and more reverbed twist, making them more shrill and hissing, whispering away as a piercing cold wind. Within this sound, the keyboards may not be introduced until later in the track, but the impact is much bigger than on the debut. All of this greatly enhanced the atmosphere of what Likno presents, and this song masterfully shows how much can be done with marginal variation over a lengthy track. There is some pace change towards the end, until a moody acoustic strumming movement beautifully wraps up the nearly 13 minutes of the opening track.
While the opener mostly emphasized building momentum with marginal guitar riff variation, ‘Turning the Blind Eye’ is more dynamic and volatile in pace. Starting with thunder drums and rumbling bass, the tempo is initially certainly much higher than on the preceding song. As the guitar meanders and crystalizes into a melodic riff, it is clear that fundamentally the song is very much in line with ‘From Summit to Trench’. Mesmerizing and cold with a flowing melancholic undertone, the building of the structures with patience and finesse is key. Some inherrent epic bombast cannot be denied either, in particular within the emphasing drums on the ensuing midtempo section.
The third and last song ‘Telma’ has a length of approximately 12 minutes in common with the other two tracks but otherwise is musically entirely different. A fully Ambient track, it consisting of swlling cosmic keyboards and flutes. While Ambient isn’t quite my expertise, the mood could be described like a journey of forest creatures, over crystalline snow crisply cracking underneath their feet while the stars and aurora dance in the nightsky above.
‘Summit and Trench’ feels very much a focus of efforts, with full attention to a handful of compositions. With fewer tracks, Likno has crafted a more unified, more enthralling approach that shows great details for patient songcrafting. The colder and more atmosphere-driven formula plays right to their strengths, making the band’s sophomore record feel like a significant step forward from an already excellent debut.
