Hungarian experimental folk rock/metal group Thy Catafalque are veterans of the scene by now, iterating through many ambitious forms and styles between their black metal debut and this, their 12th full-length, released in 2023, titled Alföld.

The new album begins on a surprising and satisfying heavy note, with a mid-paced chug and dark tonality that brings me back to vintage death metal like Immolation and Obituary.  For a band that has, in recent years, diverged so far from metal as to be more easily described as a progressive/symphonic folk rock ensemble, this album seems to be an intentional look back, while at the same time being a new form of the band that has never existed before.

It seems something of an ode to vintage Scandinavian metal and its haunted feeling.  The band has (mostly) refrained from using the lush orchestration found on many of their albums, and stripped their sound down to the traditional metal line-up at the core of their music.  The intelligent harmony of their symphonic material is still present here, but executed by the guitar.  Small amounts of synth are used, but no modern production techniques, and the guitar remains the lead instrument throughout.  A majority of the vocals are guitar/songwriter Tamás Kátai's harsh rasp, although operatic female vocals and ethereal harmonies do appear in places.

Fans of the intersection between black and folk metal will find in this album what feels like a lost 90's classic, comparable to Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day", Ulver's "Bergtatt - Et Eeventyr I 5 Capitler", or Dimmu Borgir's "Stormblast".  Though Thy Catafalque themselves emerged originally at the tail end of the 90's, their early recordings were nowhere near the confidence and sophistication of this album, sounding more like amateur bedroom passion projects.

Where albums like "Sublunary Tragedies" had rigid, simple drum machines and shrill guitar and vocal timbres, and felt like a project created by a single person, this album has the fullness of Thy Catafalque's modern band, including furious drumming which apparently is actually still programmed, as there is no drummer credited, but I wouldn't have known it, as there are naturally flowing fills, cymbal work, and some pleasant swing and tempo elasticity in parts.

The production, on the whole, is absolutely lovely, powerful and yet pleasing to the ear.  The guitar tone is a perfect balance of ear-massaging fuzz and the clarity needed to convey the highly melodic writing.  Acoustic passages on the title track "Alföld" remind me of Opeth's "Morningrise", as does the lovely fretless bass solo heard one track previous.

I am personally thrilled to hear Thy Catafalque realize the true of potential of their heavier sound, and prove again their stunning versatility.  This is the heaviest thing they've released since at least 2011.  Such is the power and fluency of this album that one would think the band had been playing metal all along; there is no hint of awkwardness, indeed, it is the most stunningly perfect and aggressive metal I have ever heard from them.