Age of Steel by Khüll | Review

Age of Steel is the kind of record that remembers fantasy can still feel genuinely grand. It takes the listener to towering citadels and steel raised beneath storm-dark skies. It’s not ironic and cynical like so many recent entries to the fantasy world. It’s epic. It’s fun. 

Spanish project Khüll has spent several years carving out territory between epic dungeon synth and atmospheric black metal, but Age of Steel, inspired by the works of Robert E. Howard, released through Naturmacht Productions, feels like the moment the project fully arrives. Hyborian-age mythology suffuses every track with fallen empires, barbarian lore, landscapes haunted by the weight of forgotten centuries, and a sense of grandeur. 

"The Fall of Atlantis" opens with the sweeping majesty its title demands. Massive synth chords crest against crumbling cities while military percussion drives the song forward. The production has a sharper clarity than earlier Khüll material. Melodies feel etched into stone rather than dissolved in pure atmosphere. The effect is the sensation of standing atop a ruined battlement as an empire recedes beneath the sea.

"Aquilonia Tales" shifts into more overtly heroic territory. Its dungeon synth framework, painted with an unmistakable black metal spirit, brings more triumphant chord progressions and momentum to the album. The earnestness here is one of the album's defining qualities. These tracks believe in wonder completely, and the record earns its grandeur because of it.

The album's strongest stretch arrives at its center. "Hyborian Sorcery" introduces darker textures without collapsing into nihilism. Even at its most ominous, Age of Steel treats shadow as atmosphere rather than an endpoint, a danger that exists so that courage may confront it. Then "King of Valusia" rises with gravity, slow-building synth layers giving way to the album's most luminous melodic moments. It carries the feeling of something ancient unearthed somewhere in the collective memory of Howardian myth.

Fans of Caladan Brood and DIM will find much to love here, but Khüll occupies distinct territory. Where many contemporary fantasy-focused projects lean into pure ambient escapism, Age of Steel holds a genuine tension between barbaric energy and a contemplative atmosphere.

This is music that treats heroism as a real thing worth honoring. Age of Steel works because Khüll understands what so many records forget: that darkness only has power when there is something bright enough to make the confrontation worth having.