Denmark’s Extreme Metal underground quintet Lotan return with their second studio full-length, Yetzer Hara, which translates from Hebrew as Evil Inclination. This is a searing eight-track slab of very Black Metal that spans a blistering forty minutes of superbly brutal and engaging listening.
Lotan – Yetzer Hara
Release Date: 15 August 2025
Words: Jools Green
Much of what makes Yetzer Hara such a superb listen is the way Lotan have blended nihilism and aggression along with a confrontational critique of modern decay. “Yetzer Hara is not just an album,” the band says. “It is a reckoning.”
It draws from the biblical tale of Cain and Abel, where the band delve into the destructive urges that define humanity’s fall from grace, invoking themes of internal conflict, moral collapse, and primal violence.
“Our sound is a weapon,” Lotan says. “Forged in fury, aimed at the puppeteers who thrive on division and decay.” It also cross-references multiple other religious ideologies, both mainstream and more esoteric, as well as historic moments. The result is a powerful and on-point message that is reflected fully in the album’s construct and delivery.
This conceptual, intricate and complex release is brutal both lyrically, being heavily rooted in myth and violence and musically, as it reflects powerfully the mood of the lyrics.
Yetzer Hara opens with the incendiary Minenwerfer, not surprisingly meaning mortar in German, where a soundbite of gunfire breaks the silence. Followed by dark, sombre rhythms and acidic vocals, the pace steadily builds. A powerful chugging beast of a track with a subtle ebb and build that engulfs you slowly and steadily.
I love the next piece, Scorched Tyranny. The strong pounding drum led rhythms and sharp riffs command your attention and delight your ears. The protracted growls tear through the very fabric of the track, dropping back reflectively midway only to make another surging sensory assault.
Omnicide Manifest begins with a haunting build that develops from a distance, crawling slowly towards you, becoming all-encompassing at its zenith. The acidic vocal roars tear through. A track of immense power and complexity with riffs that are exotic and hypnotic, this is completed with a superb swathe of haunting leadwork towards the close.
Crown Of Rope is a complex driver with dark, eerie undercurrents, twists and turns in pace and direction, all delivered with slick fluidity. The vocals are again superbly protracted with the repeat line of “Crown of Rope” tearing through with unnerving menace. I love the final reflective segment, which allows you to gather your thoughts before moving on to the next crushing piece.
Reflective and clean to open, the mood of Incantation Of Hatred soon switches to reflect the brutal message of the lyrics, which reflect death, destruction and misguided ideology. Musically maintaining a slower pace, it upholds the brutal ferocity of the predecessors. I am a big fan of slower pieces. Often, as here, the drop in pace from my perspective builds on and condenses that intense, dark and sinister quality.
A drumroll beckons Heksenat into being. A track with a great atmosphere, it is a groovy chugger with a massively catchy repeat, making it hugely engaging with the vocal growls barking their way through the groove. You get a superbly sinister drop and build midway before resuming the previous trajectory. You cannot fail to love this piece.
Penultimate piece Violent End is an all-engulfing blast of a track. There is a catchy repeat riff that pops up, adding extra interest to this largely fast and smothering beast. Just after the midway point, it takes a dramatic drop, building back up in equally dramatic waves of black riffs.
Final offering, Righteous Fury, has a very dark esoteric lyrical quality which reflects multiple dark moments in history both mythological, ancient and modern. Reflecting on the folly of humanity from many perspectives, the sound gradually builds into punchy black riffs, building layer upon layer to a dense and darkly rich sound.
With snarling, powerfully protracted vocals, it drops back midway to the famous quote attributed to Oppenheimer but originally from the philosophical poem Bhagavad Gita, embedded amidst chugging waves of riffs, “….. now I am become death!” It then resumes the previous crushing path all the way to the close. I do not think an album could end more powerfully.
The conceptual Yetzer Hara is a superb, intricate and thought-provoking album that engages deeply with the listener, holding their attention from end to end.
This is a release that is certain to be of great interest to fans of Behemoth, Hate and Mgła.
I will leave the final comment about it with the band, who state that “This is not escapism. This is resistance. In the name of distortion.”
Lotan release Yetzer Hara on 15 August 2025 via Emanzipation Productions. It is available from Bandcamp as a digital download via Yetzer Hara | Lotan or to stream from all major streaming platforms. Hopefully, it will be released as a hard copy, as an album this good deserves a physical format.
