Ankoth is a British thrash/speed/punk metal solo act, founded by the only current member Shadow von Nyx. Since 2018, Shadow has been fascinated with heavy metal music and especially took a liking to the fast paced aggression of speed metal and thrash metal, as well as the mystique and darkness of symphonic metal, gothic metal and atmospheric metal.

Shadow studied music production and performance at South Staffordshire college in Lichfield, UK, and also learned to play guitar and bass, write lyrics, arrange songs and score orchestral tracks, as well as later on learned to play drums.

Upon graduating college, Shadow released the EP Upon A Bloodied Earth, that they had started as a college project, and received the highest grade ( a Distinction) for, under the band name Ankoth, releasing the project in late 2022 on major streaming sites like Spotify, and Amazon amongst others.

The name Ankoth is an old cornish word that based on context can mean Uncouth, Queer, Improper, Bizarre, Outlandish, amongst other meanings, and possibly is the best way to define the music they create.

In Ankoth, Shadow strives to make heavy music, with raw aggression, attitude and a complete disregard to norms and trends and striving for individualism, authenticity, uniqueness and self-expression - mixing genres and styles and often covering sensitive topics in their lyrics.

All music by Ankoth so far has been written by Shadow, with Shadow also recording, arranging and playing all the instruments from scratch by themselves, and doing their own production and mastering. Upon A Bloodied Earth was recorded and produced and mastered to a full studio record in Shadow’s college studio, solely by Shadow.

Since the release of Upon A Bloodied Earth, Ankoth’s style and music has undergone significant changes, with new music recorded and a new release on its way, Shadow’s newer songs feature fully analogue recording, dark, trippy orchestral and atmospheric elements created with guitars using the EHX mel9 mellotron pedal, and sound design, and a different approach to vocals, with a distorted, nightmarish rasp done by screaming into a saturated preamp of a cassette tape machine.

Shadow continues to experiment in Ankoth, making each song to be authentic and crafted with care and thought, the process and the songwriting itself being therapeutic to Shadow, helping them convey their deepest, darkest thoughts, emotions and heal from their past trauma and issues. Shadow always strives to make their work in Ankoth to be top notch, authentic, heavy and unequivocally Ankoth.