UK-based atmospheric black metal act Arx Atrata, a project of Ben Sizer is back with a stunning new album entitled A Reckoning, which will be released on 5 July. It's been three years since we were gifted with any new Arx Atrata material and fans of Sizer's uniquely transportative and enthralling music will be thrilled that another chance to walk the paths of his dream world is just weeks away.

Ben Sizer comments: "After five long years since the last full length album, it was important to me that the return would not just be 'album four' but would mark a step forward in some way, without shedding any of the essential elements that define Arx Atrata. A Reckoning is the result - a record that takes the spirit and atmosphere of the previous records, unites it under a common lyrical theme and concept to make a cohesive whole, and delivers it with the weightiest production to date for maximum impact. Whether experienced in one sitting as the full album-length journey that leads the listener through the misfortunes of a former warrior, or simply as a set of melancholic black metal songs spanning the whole gamut of aural textures, I feel that this is arguably the definitive Arx Atrata record and I'm ardently looking forward to sharing it with the world."

The first single from A Reckoning is released today, along with an accompanying lyric video. "I Was A Witness To His Passing" is a thrilling piece that fires the imagination and lifts the spirit, a powerful chapter within the great tome that is A Reckoning. 

Speaking about the single and the story of its creation Ben commented: "'I Was A Witness To His Passing' is the opening song from the new album and the lyrics tell a tale of both the futility of war and of the wider failings of humanity in our dealings with each other and our environment. These are timeless themes and this timelessness is mirrored somewhat in the composition, which contains riffs written last year specifically for this song but also some parts dating back thirty years to when I first picked up the guitar, and which have waited this long for a worthy home. As such it is almost a synthesis of a lifetime of experience, both musically and lyrically, with the result being one of the more intense songs on the album, and a perfect introduction to the story and themes that continue through the rest of A Reckoning."

Recommended to fans of Coldworld, Agalloch, Lustre, Paysage d'Hiver, Summoning, Winterfylleth and Fen. Link