In Nick Perumov's "Chronicle of Hjorvard" Rakoth is the half-god, so-called "True Mage", who had the title Master of Darkness for using Darkness for his magic. He rose against the Young Gods accusing them of being Liars stealing mortals' freedom. After his second try he was defeated, disincarnated and bound to the world called "The Bottom of Worlds". With help of his friend, Hedin "Aware of Darkness", he returned and overthrew the Young Gods thus becoming the New God along with Hedin.
December, 1996 - the band is formed completely with coming of Black as vocalist with "clean" voice and changing bassist to Den. All music is written by Rustam and Ilya, lyrics - by Rustam. Now the band has its own face - Black's clean voice and Rustam's keys. The first song created is "Return of the Nameless" (first edition). The song becomes famous (in Obninsk) long before the first gig.
February, 1997 - the first concert together with Dissenter - techno-death band. The concert represents the fest titled "Rock against chemical dependence". Needless to say that everyone (especially some members of the band) is deadly drunk. Nevertheless the gig is extremely successful. Amazingly, public seems to know RAKOTH well although no tapes are distributed yet and no gigs were given before. RAKOTH plays own early songs "Return of the Nameless" (first variant), "Unholy Temple", "One Step Beyond" (which is unrecognizably transformed into the song "Beyond" later), "Dying Realm" and STORM's "Nagellstev".
March, 1997 - Tense relationship inside the band. Rustam claims to leave the band. Simultaneously Leshy and F. say they wanted to leave long ago. Band collapses. F., Leshy and Ilya form the band they call GORBUG and play black metal.
May, 1997 - Rustam decides to form new band and offers Black and Den to join. They plan to play doom with some other styles elements. Coincidentally, at the same time the band Dissenter falls apart and its guitarist/vocalist Dy wishes to play deeper music than death metal. Den invites him to the new band, which has no name yet. New line-up: Rustam - keys & voice, Black - voice, Den - bass, Dy - guitars. Leshy offers his help with drums. The band rehearses at Rustam's garage.
June, 1997 - Band is in search for the name. Many variants proposed (MEPHISTO, UNBORN, TEARS, DOWNFALL, IN THIS ROOM), but none satisfies. Finally, Dy proposes to use the name RAKOTH again. Taking into account that old band RAKOTH doesn't exist anymore and that the name was offered by Rustam in the beginning, the name RAKOTH is accepted.
July, 1997 - Leshy officially joins RAKOTH. The first demo "Tales of the Worlds Unreal" is recorded right in the garage.
August, 1997 - Tape is given to A. Arzamascev, the head of Arzamascev's Music Center (later - Signal Studios). He decides to allow the band to record free at his studio. Demo tape "Dark Ages Chronicle" is recorded live, with no post-mixing, during only 4 hours. The quality of recording is that high that noone believes in that short recording time and in live recording. Later, in review given in DEATHRIDER 'zine we can see: "This tape was recorded (according to legend) during only 4(!) hours…". Rustam starts sending the tapes everywhere.
September, 1997 - Solo-concert. As in the first case, the public knows the band well, so the gig goes perfectly. October, 1997 - Leshy suddenly leaves RAKOTH. He plays with Fascist (now Tuur) and Ilya (now Vuulko) in their band they renamed into Темнозорь. They play so-called "true" pagan metal.
February, 1998 - First review on "Dark Ages Chronicle" appears in VAE SOLIS web-zine. Positive one. All later reviews are positive as well.
March, 1998 - Latvian distro-label starts distributing "Dark Ages Chronicle". April, 1998 - Rustam starts his solo-project Umbral Presence in order to create something more aggressive (and personal) than RAKOTH.
June, 1998 - Another Latvian distro, Beverina Productions, starts distribution of "Dark Ages Chronicle".
August, 1998 - The band enters Signal Studios to record their new creation. By the strange coincidence they begin the recording at the same day which was chosen (a year ago) for recording of "Dark Ages Chronicle". It is 18th of August. After the week of work they finally can celebrate the birth of their first full-length (57 minutes) album, titled "Superstatic Equilibrium". During the same session Rustam records the demo for Umbral Presence, "…et germinet Chaos". Both tapes are immediately sent to Elven Witchcraft.
November, 1998 - "Superstatic Equilibrium" and "…et germinet Chaos" are now officially distributed by Elven Witchcraft.
April, 1999 - "code666" is interested in getting RAKOTH's tape. Rustam sends "Superstatic Equilibrium" to Italy.
June, 1999 - "code666" offers a deal to RAKOTH.
August, 1999 - The contract for recording of one album is signed.
November 1999 - The New Album “Planeshift” is out on code666 production (ITALY)
March 2000 - Planeshift took 100/100 on Aardschok Magazine (Holland) & 6/6 on Scream Magazine (Norway), and tons of other highly positive reviews.
April 2000 - a new Deal is signed with code666 for two more albums.
May-June 2000 - composing and arranging new songs for the next album…
... a lot of interesting things between 2000 — 2008 undescribed to fit the format yet...
September the 4th, 2008
After 2,5 years of cooperation Zafod B. the Utkinson announces the great start of his new project(s) which makes him leave Rakoth immediately. The band is still working on its new album nevertheless.
Edge
Rakoth Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dark shapes enframed in a myriad of suns
The infinity ends
The past plains of snow the visions of frozen landscapes flow silent yet charming sights of pale serenity
You've chosen the way
Where patterns of frost lead you astray to the glacial crypt of thoughts
The path that you walk so gracefully paved with icy thorns led you to the realm forlorn
You've chosen the way
Where patterns of frost lead you astray to the glacial crypt of thoughts
To knowledge that made illusion of your existence fade
Never to return
The lyrics of the Rakoth's song "Edge" depict the journey of the singer as he ventures through the icy wilderness, entangled in the darkness of his thoughts. The first few lines create a powerful image of serpents entangled in starlight and black seals entwined in crystal, which suggests that the singer is facing an internal conflict that threatens to consume him. He is surrounded by dark shapes framed by myriad suns, which could symbolize the vastness of the universe and the insignificance of his being.
As the lyrics progress, the focus shifts to the singer's journey into the snowy plains of his past and his frozen landscape of memories. Here, he encounters silent yet charming sights of pale serenity, which could be interpreted as memories that offer solace but also threaten to envelop him in nostalgia. He is on a path that leads him away from his sanctuary of morbid self, beyond the reason locked in a rotten shell while lost in everlasting sleep. The path he walks so gracefully is paved with icy thorns that lead him to a realm forlorn.
The chorus of the song, "You've chosen the way, where patterns of frost lead you astray to the glacial crypt of thoughts," suggests that the singer has made a conscious decision to journey into the icy depths of his mind, where he hopes to find knowledge that will help make the illusion of his existence fade. The song ends on a pessimistic note, implying that the singer may never return from his journey.
Line by Line Meaning
Like serpents entangled in faint starlight black seals entwined in crystal gleam
Dark and mysterious entities intertwined with contrasting elements such as light and dark, black and crystal.
Dark shapes enframed in a myriad of suns
Shadowy forms illuminated by many celestial bodies.
The infinity ends
The infinite universe has a boundary that can be reached.
The past plains of snow the visions of frozen landscapes flow silent yet charming sights of pale serenity
Memories of a serene and tranquil world of ice and snow.
You've chosen the way
You have made a decision that will alter your future path.
Where patterns of frost lead you astray to the glacial crypt of thoughts
Your thoughts and beliefs are being led astray to a place of cold isolation and introspection.
Aside and away from inner space you roam afar from sanctuary of morbid self beyond the reason locked in a rotten shell while lost in everlasting sleep
You have strayed too far from your own inner self and are now trapped in a stagnant state of being without reason to progress.
The path that you walk so gracefully paved with icy thorns led you to the realm forlorn
Your journey, though elegant, has led you to a place of loneliness and emptiness.
To knowledge that made illusion of your existence fade
Your realization of a greater truth has caused your previous illusions and perceptions to disappear forever.
Never to return
There is no going back from this enlightened state of reality.
Contributed by Allison G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@KazooK-gx2sv
Tiny Deaths is the worst album of the band.They always had that progressive/experimental sound,but in that record they've pushed it way too far.
Fortunately for us (and for them) the next and latest album - Ars Compilata - is a great work.They even re-implemented drums,which they used in the first two demos only,along with synth.Of the original line up,by the way,only the founder is still in the band.
Really great band anyway.I really like the leader and founder,Rustam Shakirzyanov,he's a genius.He has a black metal solo project as well,called Umbral Presence.He released a demo in 1998 and a full length in 2006.
@TheUmbralPresence
Rustam here. Thanks for your words. =)
Just a bit of correction. Zlek on "Ars Compilata" is the same person as P. Noir from previous works, so I'm not the only original member. Also, I'm not the founder of the band. First lineup was gathered by original Temnozor' members in 1996, I was invited. And the second lineup was founded by both me and Dy in 1997.