(90s Black Metal in the vein of early Emperor,early Satyricon and Abigor) From their vampyric unbirth in early 2021, Krvna have quickly ascended the black metal underground with effortless aplomb. Hailing from the same Australian scene from which sprung such legends as Nazxul, Pestilential Shadows, and Drowning the Light, mainman Krvna Vatra's vision comparably pursues a path authentically ancient and yet unblinkered by the past. In autumn of 2021 came Krvna's Long Forgotten Relic demo - aptly titled, that - which set the stage for successive full-lengths Sempinfernus by year's end and For Thine is the Kingdom of the Flesh a full year after that. Both albums unveiled the full fathom of Krvna Vatra's vision, building in both aggression and grandiosity, and now arrives a mini-album that pushes those poles further: The Rhythmus of Death Eternal. Ripplingly, robustly recorded, The Rhythmus of Death Eternal is a unique record in its half-hour construction: three brand-new tracks, each epic at seven minutes apiece, and then covers of Austrian vanguard Abigor and Viking-era Bathory. Such a construction could appear scattered on the surface - or one suited to different sides of a record, more accurately - but Krvna here threads it together with sinuous ease. For in those three new tracks do Krvna bring their already-bubbling-over majesty & mysticism into clearer, more-cutting light, keeping apace with the evolution from one full-length to the next. They're recognizably black metal, of course - surging, skyscraping, even sensual - but the urgency is blanching and the melodicism and especially soloing simply sublime. The themes of delving deeper into existentialism and the death of God and criticism his ultimate creation are thus accomplished in a manner most poignant. Then come the two covers, which would almost seem like Krvna tracks themselves if one were not well versed in '90s black metal; the cascading sensation comes full circle as The Rhythmus of Death Eternal closes in triumphant fashion. "What Great Lengths" indeed!