Degrade and Impede

Escaping Aghartha is a doom/black metal band from North Carolina, USA. Founded by Avery Dart in 2015, Escaping Aghartha began as a solo experimental project before being joined by CJ Yacoub (drums) and Anghatengh (backing vocals) in 2020. From its founding until today, Escaping Aghartha has released eight full-length albums. With Blackened Doom as their pillar, the band has never-the-less explored beyond the genre with full-length ambient and noise records in their repertoire.

On "Lurkers of Languid Waters", Escaping Aghartha's ninth full-length record, the band focuses on the ongoing declines of anguillid eels, the most notable of which are the Critically Endangered European Eel, Endangered American Eel, and Endangered Japanese Eel. A mammoth of a record with a nearly 80 min runtime, Escaping Aghartha explores the threats to anguillid eels in addition to their biology and incredible life cycle through a tapestry of progressive blackened doom, discordant ambience, and black metal urgency.

To aid eel conservation, Escaping Aghartha is donating all profits from sales of "Lurkers of Languid Waters" on their Bandcamp page during the first month of preorders to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Anguillid Eel Specialist Group (AESG). 50% of digital donations on the Hypnotic Dirge "Lurkers of Languid Waters" Bandcamp page during the first month will also be donated. This group has a history of success in researching, advocating for, and implementing eel conservation. These donations will specifically help fund the AESG assess the population statuses of all 16 species of anguillid eel. This is a critical step in conservation, as without accurate population data, it's difficult to enact effective conservation policy or evaluate the efficacy of ongoing conservation efforts.