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Naer Mataron - Up From The Ashes
Naer Mataron was formed in 1994 by Lord Alatoth and Morpheas and released a demo tape called Awakening Of The Ancient Greece (under the name Nar Mataron). Then the two guys parted ways and guitar player Morpheas continued under the name Naer Mataron. Together with bass player Kaiadas, vocalist Aithir and drummer/keyboarder Lethe (from Order Of The Ebon Hand, Septic Flesh) he recorded the bandīs debut in 1997. It was released 1998 from Black Lotus Records and it is called Up From The Ashes.
It contains seven good tracks of Hellenic/Norwegian Black Metal. Despite the aggressive and fast music, Up From The Ashes has some calm moments. This album is full of great melodies, played with 300 km/h, but it also has slow atmospheric, rocking parts. The lyrics are dealing with ancient Greece. Highlights are The Chosen Son, Faethon, Zeus (Wrath Of The Gods), The Silent Kingdom of Hades and The Great God Pan. Great start!
Written by Skariotis
Naer Mataron - Skotos Aenaon
This is raw Black Metal. More than the follow up River At Dash Scalding, which has a better production. The production on this album isnīt of the most lo/fi either, but itīs a very typical Black Metal production with the high discant and low bass. The album is in the typical Norwegian way, but Naer Mataron definetely got their own identity, and the band isnīt a copy of anybody. The album starts with a nice intro, then the mayhem begins. Naer Mataron plays pretty fast, but with slower parts in-between, creating a very intense and hypnotic feeling. The vocals are of course mainly harsh, but has spoken parts as well. This mostly happens when they slow down. A great album, that works on several levels. The drumming is very cool, it seems that the drummer has his own way of blasting, with double fast hits at the snare, that sound really cool. This is a high quality Black Metal album!
Written by Morten
Naer Mataron - River At Dash Scalding
This is my favorite Naer Mataron release. This is how black metal should be played, with fast furious drumming, clear distinguishable riffs that are catchy and well composed, and a great production. The speed is pretty fast, but not exhausting, sometimes it reminds of a faster De Mysteris Dom Sathanas from Mayhem. But of course Naer Mataron has its own style.
The album starts with a good intro, before the metal kicks in. Totally ten tracks of which one is an intro and one being a clear-vocal calmer hymn to the ancient Europe. The rest of course is top-notch Black Metal. The last song Steppe is a Ved Buens Ende cover. Although itīs done in a fashion, that sounds a hell of a lot more like Naer Mataron than Ved Buens Ende.
Written by Morten
The reviews of this album were made separatedly almost at the same time, so we posted both reviews!
In 2003 Naer Mataron released their third strike, called River At Dash Scalding. They have a new drummer called Warhead and Morpheas is now the vocalist too. Nordvargr of MZ-412 contributed some atmospheric interludes. The album starts with one of them. Immediately Naer Mataron explode with the first song, The Continuity Of Land And Blood, a great track in typical Norwegian/Swedish manner. This song marks also the whole direction of the album. The melodies and the typical Greek elements are gone. Naer Mataron altered into a Black Metal band of international attitude and standards. And they are not bad in what they are doing now! If you donīt know that these guys are Greeks, you will not hear it in their music. 100 % professional, Norwegian Black Metal. Music is written and played from guys who really know, how a typical Black Metal album should sound. So there are plenty of cold and fast tracks on the album. The Great Meridian Tide, Revolt Against The Modern World, The Life And Death Of Europa, the Ved Buens Ende cover The Plunderer and Steppe. All songs are best examples of aggressive, well-played Black Metal. The sad thing is, that they lost this specific Hellenic touch, they had on their debut album. Maybe they will find it again in some later releases.
Written by Skariotis
Aghivasiin - Lessons On How To Defeat Death
This is not a new album, but a compilation CD limited to 1000 copies, to celebrate the first ten years of the bandīs existence. It was released in 2004 from the Greek Shadowface Releases. The liner notes from Kaiadas are written in Greek, so the release is maybe only for the Greek market. The first song is a totally new one called Alchemist. It sounds like the River At Dash Scalding material. Next two songs are from the legendary The Awakening Of The Ancient Greece demo from 1994. Zeus (Wrath Of The Gods) and Zephyrous are also on the first CD, Up From The Ashes. Both songs are great, even with the shitty demo sound! The vocalist was Lord Alatoth, also known as the singer of Vorphalack. Next two songs are from the Skotos Aenaon material, a rough version of Winter War Memorial, and an unreleased version of Iketis. Drums and vocals are from Aithir. Next two songs are from the A Holocaust In Front Of Godīs Eyes 7" EP, the title track and Steppe, which is in a different version also on their River At Dash Scalding album. On these songs, Naer Mataron sounds even more aggressive, īcause the vocals are distorted! Last song is an unreleased version (the full version) of Kalki The Avenger - Lightning And The Sun (Death). It is not really a song, more an outro with a spoken word part from Morpheas. He should check his pronunciation in English, he sounds really bad. As a special, there is also a video section on the CD, containing a live gig in Athens from 2002, supporting Rotting Christ. Its duration is over 33 minutes long and they play six songs: Iketis, Diastric Fields Of War, Faethon, the Darkthrone cover Transylvanian Hunger, Skotos Aenaon and Wolf Of Ions. Sound is OK, but stage-acting is too static to call it amazing (more headbanging please! They have an additional guitar player, whose name I donīt know). But the peopleīs reaction is really enthousiastic! The whole package is not bad, there are some rare songs on the CD, plus the bonus live gig in .avi-format. Value for money!
Written by Skariotis
Naer Mataron - Discipline Manifesto
Two years after River At Dash Scalding, Naer Mataron released their next full-length work called Discipline Manifesto. It was released in 2005 through Black Lotus Records. Again, the band puked on all trends in the Black Metal business and released an album which fits for 1995 and not for 2005. The band made their traditional Scandinavian sound perfect and sound even more like a Norwegian band of the early 90īs. What sounded a bit half-baked in the past, it is now 100% convincing, thanks to the best songwriting the band ever made. The album starts furiously with the enormous Extreme Unction, a ten-minute hymn full of high-speed-riffing and blasts. Next great track is Arrival Of The Caesar, which has some haunting melodies, exemplary for the whole album. Discipline Manifesto has even a Black Metal hit called Blast Furnace, listen to it and you will understand. I canīt imagine that any person who call himself a Black Metal fan wonīt love it! With The Day Is Breaking, the band slows the speed down (at least on the first half) and present us its epic side. Last Man Against Time close the album perfectly, another highlight in Naer Mataronīs history with fantastic guitar riffs and melodies. As I mention before, this is for me the best album since their debut Up From The Ashes. Unlike their past effort, the band managed to combine the pure and traditional Norse Black Metal sound with a wider variety of riffs and melodies, sounding still uncompromising and true. The sound reflects that attitude, Naer Mataron travelled to Norway for parts of the album production, the mixing and mastering. Vicotnik (Ved Buens Ende, Dodheimsgard) did the job and appears together with Carl-Michael (Ved Buens Ende, Aura Noir) and Apollyon (Aura Noir, Lamented Souls) as guest musicians on Discipline Manifesto. My only complaint is that the drums are mixed too silent, so itīs difficult to enjoy the excellent work of drummer Warhead.
Many things happened after the album release. First, the bandīs label Black Lotus Records closed its door and secondly, the bandīs founder, guitarist and vocalist Morpheas left the band, but Kaiadas and Warhead will continue the band with new members. Until their next album, I recommend to every fan of Black Metal to check out Discipline Manifesto!
Written by Skariotis
Necromantia/Varathron Black Arts Lead To Everlasting Sins
This review refers to the rerelease. For further information about the music, please read the review of the original release!
The cult split LP from 1992 was re-released in CD format from the Greek Unisound label in 1994 under the name Black Arts Lead To Everlasting Sins. The label added some bonus songs to the original eight songs. The bonus track of Necromantia is called De Magia Veterum. It is over ten minutes long and not really a song. It starts with drum percussions and evil invocations, which become more and more intense and chaotic, with mad sounding laughters, weird bass sounds and piano solos. This "song" makes the Necromantia side even more weird then it was before!
The Varathron side has two bonus songs, but both were already released before, on their One Step Beyond Dreams EP, so please read my review of these songs there. The songs are: Descent Of A Prophetic Vision and Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire. This time we canīt blame the band for this song-recycling, but Unisound Records. A CD has much more time to offer, there was surely no bad intention. But Varathrons early releases are full of good, but recycled songs! Fortunately they released 1993 their debut album and things got really better. Please note that there are two versions of this release available, with different covers. When Unisound will need some money again, there will surely be a third one, so stay tuned...
Necromantia - Scarlet Evil Witching Black
Necromantia released the second album called Scarlet Evil Witching Black in 1995. Label was again Osmose Productions. The statement, that no rhythm guitar was used on this album, is unique in the whole metal scene! Necromantiaīs sound consists of two basses, one distorted four-string and one eight-string bass.
The music didnīt change much since the last album, but it is not so chaotic anymore, itīs more structured. The album starts with the infernal Devilskin. Then comes Black Mirror, which features a great riff and some blastbeat parts as well. Sounds pretty epic. Third song, Pretender To The Throne, is splitted in two separate songs, first is Opus I: The Usurperīs Spawn, which is mainly played on full-speed, but has also the typical Necromantia mid-tempo parts. The Arcane Light Of Hecate is an atmospheric track, vocals sound like invocations, suddenly a saxophone solo appears, weird track which reminds the early days of the band! Scarlet Witching Dreams starts with a guitar solo (the guitar is only used for solos on that album!) and then it continues slow and grim. The keyboard is of course always present, sometimes majestic, sometimes gentle in the back. The Serpent And The Pentagram features (as every song on that album) many varieties of speed and riff changing. There exists no song which is just riff, refrain, riff, solo, end. Seventh song is the second part of Pretender To The Throne, Opus II: Battle At The Netherworld. It has an epic touch too, just the vocals and the obligatory blastbeat part are Black Metal. Last song is Spiritdance. It contains a piano part and great orchestral keyboards, generally, it is a calmer song, as a last song should be.
Scarlet Witching Dreams is a good album from a unique-sounding band. Production and songwriting are better than on the previous album. Devilskin and Scarlet Witching Dreams are real highlights of Black Metal.
The music didnīt change much since the last album, but it is not so chaotic anymore, itīs more structured. The album starts with the infernal Devilskin. Then comes Black Mirror, which features a great riff and some blastbeat parts as well. Sounds pretty epic. Third song, Pretender To The Throne, is splitted in two separate songs, first is Opus I: The Usurperīs Spawn, which is mainly played on full-speed, but has also the typical Necromantia mid-tempo parts. The Arcane Light Of Hecate is an atmospheric track, vocals sound like invocations, suddenly a saxophone solo appears, weird track which reminds the early days of the band! Scarlet Witching Dreams starts with a guitar solo (the guitar is only used for solos on that album!) and then it continues slow and grim. The keyboard is of course always present, sometimes majestic, sometimes gentle in the back. The Serpent And The Pentagram features (as every song on that album) many varieties of speed and riff changing. There exists no song which is just riff, refrain, riff, solo, end. Seventh song is the second part of Pretender To The Throne, Opus II: Battle At The Netherworld. It has an epic touch too, just the vocals and the obligatory blastbeat part are Black Metal. Last song is Spiritdance. It contains a piano part and great orchestral keyboards, generally, it is a calmer song, as a last song should be.
Scarlet Witching Dreams is a good album from a unique-sounding band. Production and songwriting are better than on the previous album. Devilskin and Scarlet Witching Dreams are real highlights of Black Metal.
Written by Skariotis
Necromantia - Ancient Pride
Necromantia is well known for having two bassguitars as main instruments, giving a very crunchy and unique sound. They use one four string and one eight string bass. This Mini CD starts with the song Shaman, the most Black Metal song on the disc, with the main instruments being the double bassguitars. Next we get Ancient Pride, a killer song that starts out with a flute, almost a bit folky, and has clean vocals in addition to the black vocals. Not very common in Necromantiaīs music. The lyrics belong to an anthem which salutes the ancient Europa, and rebells against christianity, very well written! The song starts out as more of a Heavy Metal song, but alternates with some Black Metal parts. A truly great song. One that stays in your mind and really gives a sense of pride, with some clean acoustic guitar parts as well. Next comes For The Light Of My Darkness, it also has some clean vocals, but, more black than Ancient Pride. Nice synths are also present. The final song is Each Dawn I Die (Manowar cover). Its starts out as a Heavy Metal song with semi-black vocals. The song is midtempo, has guitar solos and is also quite catchy.
A recommended buy!
Written by Morten
Necromantia - IV: Malice
Three years after the great mini album Ancient Pride and five years after their last full-length album, Necromantia released in 2000 a new album called IV: Malice. The band had changed label and it was released by Greek Black Lotus Records (one of the owners of Black Lotus is The Magus himself). The guitar solos were performed by John of Phantom Lord, the keyboards by Iraklis of Swan Christy. Artwork and inlay were done by Set<H>.
The album starts dynamically with the very good The Blair Witch Cult, an evil and razor-sharp song. The good work continues with Those Who Never Sleep. Great album so far! Disciples Of Sophia starts as an ordinary Heavy Metal song, suddenly turning to some very catchy blastbeats (blastbeats and catchy?? Yeah!). Murder, Magic And Tears is right from the start aggressive and fast. Gone are the five-minutes-long monologues, invocations and other weird stuff from past releases. Invictus is a great variable, epic song. Sixth track is the title track. It starts pretty modern, but then it turns into a "normal" Necromantia song. Last song is Circle Of Burned Doves, also a good track.
What I first noticed, Necromantia tightened the songwriting. The songs are catchier than ever, making IV: Malice the best Necromantia album so far. The sound is good, the concept of the two basses is well executed. In contrary to the past releases, IV: Malice is almost easy-listening. But it is still a typical Necromantia album!
The album starts dynamically with the very good The Blair Witch Cult, an evil and razor-sharp song. The good work continues with Those Who Never Sleep. Great album so far! Disciples Of Sophia starts as an ordinary Heavy Metal song, suddenly turning to some very catchy blastbeats (blastbeats and catchy?? Yeah!). Murder, Magic And Tears is right from the start aggressive and fast. Gone are the five-minutes-long monologues, invocations and other weird stuff from past releases. Invictus is a great variable, epic song. Sixth track is the title track. It starts pretty modern, but then it turns into a "normal" Necromantia song. Last song is Circle Of Burned Doves, also a good track.
What I first noticed, Necromantia tightened the songwriting. The songs are catchier than ever, making IV: Malice the best Necromantia album so far. The sound is good, the concept of the two basses is well executed. In contrary to the past releases, IV: Malice is almost easy-listening. But it is still a typical Necromantia album!
Written by Skariotis
Necromantia - Covering Evil (12 Years Doing The Devilīs Work)
This release is a double CD. First CD contains one new song from the band and four cover-versions from songs of some metal legends. Second CD offers nine songs which represent the whole career of the band, from their demo days until the last album IV: Malice. Covering Evil was released in 2001 from Black Lotus Records. Artwork is done by Set<H>.
The first CD begins with the new Necromantia track. It is called My World, Your Hell, a typical Necromantia song in the quality of IV: Malice. The first cover is Death Rider from the US metal legends Omen. Second cover is The Number Of The Beast from Iron Maiden. Third cover is Demonīs Whip from Manowar (they covered a Manowar song on their Ancient Pride mini LP too, the song Each Dawn I Die). Last cover is Mordor, from the German cult metal band Running Wild. Every cover is performed in the unique Necromantia style, but the songs still remind their origin. Nice Bonus on that best-of CD!
The second CD is the actual best-of CD. It contains nine songs. It starts in the present and goes back in time. First are Those Who Never Sleep and Murder, Magic And Tears (from IV: Malice, 2000), then Ancient Pride and For The Light Of My Darkness (from Ancient Pride, 1997), The Black Mirror, Pretender To The Throne Opus I: The Usurperīs Throne and Scarlet Witching Dreams (from Scarlet Evil Witching Black, 1995), Les Litanies De Satan (from Crossing The Fiery Path) and Lord Of The Abyss (from the split LP The Black Arts, 1991). If you donīt know Necromantia, this CD is a great entrance into their world. If you have already all their CDs, you surely want to know, how the covers and the new song are. New fans and old fans will not be disappointed from this release!
The first CD begins with the new Necromantia track. It is called My World, Your Hell, a typical Necromantia song in the quality of IV: Malice. The first cover is Death Rider from the US metal legends Omen. Second cover is The Number Of The Beast from Iron Maiden. Third cover is Demonīs Whip from Manowar (they covered a Manowar song on their Ancient Pride mini LP too, the song Each Dawn I Die). Last cover is Mordor, from the German cult metal band Running Wild. Every cover is performed in the unique Necromantia style, but the songs still remind their origin. Nice Bonus on that best-of CD!
The second CD is the actual best-of CD. It contains nine songs. It starts in the present and goes back in time. First are Those Who Never Sleep and Murder, Magic And Tears (from IV: Malice, 2000), then Ancient Pride and For The Light Of My Darkness (from Ancient Pride, 1997), The Black Mirror, Pretender To The Throne Opus I: The Usurperīs Throne and Scarlet Witching Dreams (from Scarlet Evil Witching Black, 1995), Les Litanies De Satan (from Crossing The Fiery Path) and Lord Of The Abyss (from the split LP The Black Arts, 1991). If you donīt know Necromantia, this CD is a great entrance into their world. If you have already all their CDs, you surely want to know, how the covers and the new song are. New fans and old fans will not be disappointed from this release!
Written by Skariotis
Nergal - The Wizard Of Nerath
Nergal is a Black Metal band which was very active in the early 90īs. They released some demos and EPīs and in 1995 their first album, The Wizard Of Nerath. It was produced by Magus Wampyr Daoloth in the famous Storm Studio, the studio in which most of the early cult material from bands like Varathron, Rotting Christ and Necromantia were recorded and produced. Nergal released their debut through Unisound Records. This was also their last sign of life (till 2006, as the band suddenly returned).
Nergal sounds like a son of Varathron and Rotting Christ. The band plays the typical Hellenic Black Metal style! Right from the first note, there are the slow guitar riffs like Varathron, the keyboards and atmosphere like Rotting Christ. Despite the bad vocals, the album starts strongly. Timeless Father, My Soul Blood Will Be Dripping and The Wind Of Hate are good examples of Hellenic Black Metal. Ljus Mörker (means light/darkness in Swedish) is a calm, atmospheric piece with Black Metal vocals in best Necromantia manner. Sadly, the bandīs vocals are not good, īcause the vocalist is just screaming his awful shrieks into his microphone, without having any sense of song structures or any kind of rhythm. They do not fit the most time. The band also fails to maintain the quality of the first three songs. So all songs sounds somehow like Rotting Christ, Varathron, or a bit like Agatus, but fail to reach the quality of these bands. Sometimes I think that some riffs are copied, but the certain feeling, which made Varathron or early Rotting Christ songs so amazing is absolutely absent here. Iīm sure that it would sound better with proper vocals! The music is not so bad for a debut album of a young band and the basement to become a good and typical Hellenic sounding Black Metal band was there. If you canīt get enough of Varathronīs His Majesty At The Swamp or Agatusī Dawn Of Martyrdom, then you will probably like the album.
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Parade Into Centuries
This is not only the debut album of Nightfall, but also the debut of French label Holy Records and the international debut of the Hellenic Metal scene! It was released in 1992. The line-up was Efthimis (bass, vocals, keyboards), Christian (guitars), Costas (drums) and Mike (guitars). The songs are mainly from the previously released demo called Vanity. The music style is Death Metal with the typical Hellenic keyboards and a touch of Gothic Metal, not brutal Death Metal like US bands play. The band concentrated on atmosphere and slow songs, but there are plenty of fast parts involved. The opener Thoughts is a good example, slow start with lots of keyboard, then up-tempo. The vocals of Efthimis are since the first album remarkable and one of Nightfallīs trademarks. Mainly concentrated on low screams, not growls, sometimes using his very deep, "gothic-like" voice. Also the guitar players have talent, there are some good solos on the album. Highlights are the great, slow doom rocker Domestication Of Wildness, the fast The Passage, For My Soul, When The Dark Falls Into and the traditional Crying Out The Fear Within. The band adds as bonus a different version of Domestication Of Wildness, the "longest and deadliest version". Parade Into Centuries has many catchy songs. A good start!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Macabre Sunsets
Nightfallīs second album was released in the year 1993 from Holy Records. There are some musical differences to their debut (there are some differences in every Nightfall album!). Starting with I Polis Ealo (Odious), on a violent blastbeat-level, which is almost Black Metal. The title means "The City Has Fallen" and "the city" is for the Greeks Constantinople, todayīs Istanbul. The lyrics are dealing with the weakness of christian religion and the power of the church, who was one of the main aspects of the fall of the once mighty Greek civilization. On Precious/All My Love Is Lost, Efthimis approves the new brutality with his dark voice. As Your God Is Failing Once Again appears also on the Oh Black Queen, Oh Youīre Mine EP, a very emotional, slow song with a wonderful melancholic melody. The title track is just an interlude. Bitterness Leads Me To My Saviour Death is a doomy, depressive track, as Mother Of All Gods, Mother Of Mine, which features majestic keyboard parts. At the end, there are the diverse Poetry Of Death and Enormous/The Anthem Of Death, which is also on the EP. It has a worse sound than the other songs, maybe it was recorded on another studio session. As bonus, there is an older version of As Your God Is Failing Once Again (Previous Version), also with worse sound. These two are possibly the EP versions.
On the second album, Efthimis lyrics are growing into dark poems and the singer always emphasises the importance of the words. Sadly, the music canīt follow his efforts, īcause the album has too much slow, depressive songs and less variety as their debut. After the first three songs, the music flows tenaciously. The catchy song elements are almost gone. When they get fast, it is really fast, they should have done it more often, to make the music more listenable. Macabre Sunsets is for me the most difficult Nightfall album.
On the second album, Efthimis lyrics are growing into dark poems and the singer always emphasises the importance of the words. Sadly, the music canīt follow his efforts, īcause the album has too much slow, depressive songs and less variety as their debut. After the first three songs, the music flows tenaciously. The catchy song elements are almost gone. When they get fast, it is really fast, they should have done it more often, to make the music more listenable. Macabre Sunsets is for me the most difficult Nightfall album.
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Eons Aura
This release is not an album, but only a mini CD. There are four songs on it, two of them are covers. The band released it to celebrate its first European Tour (without any live tracks...). The Nightfall songs are Eroding and Ardour Was I. Both are good examples that Nightfallīs music is becoming somehow unique, a mix between all extreme metal directions. Ardour Was I is really great. The cover versions are Until The Day God Help Us All, from 90īs pop band Army Of Lovers (which other metal band would dare to cover this band?) and Thor, from Manowar (a bit more popular in the metal world...). The Kings Of Metal meet The Army Of Lovers, in other words: a Nightfall CD!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Athenian Echoes
Nightfallīs third album was released in 1995 and is unique in their discography. They didnīt make a similar album before, or after that album. As it was released, I though it was the strangest extreme metal album, with very unique, but at the same time very fascinating music. There are no lyrics of the eight songs in the booklet, but in exchange, there are equal poems with different titles, all written by Efthimis.
The album starts with one of the fastest songs in metal history, Aye Azure. Great aggressive song, Nightfallīs drummer Costas surely used drum computers for that speed. New Keyboard player George adds very haunting keys to the musical inferno. Armada is totally different, with a great riff in normal speed, the song is rocking very well. Ishtar begins very oriental, features cool riffing and majestic blastbeat parts, all in just one song! The Vineyard drifts after the hyperspeed into depressive slowness. Iīm A Daemond is beating the shit out of hell, what a great, mad song. Iris (And The Burning Aureole) slows down and is a nice contrast. My Red, Red Moon (Emma O) starts like a fag pop song, but itīs a great gothic rocker! Monuments Of Its Own Magnificience is the right end for the album, slow, a bit oriental and very melancholic. The whole album is like a sick trip into a madmanīs world. After all these years, I still have not found an album, which is like Athenian Echoes. Originality at top-level!
The album starts with one of the fastest songs in metal history, Aye Azure. Great aggressive song, Nightfallīs drummer Costas surely used drum computers for that speed. New Keyboard player George adds very haunting keys to the musical inferno. Armada is totally different, with a great riff in normal speed, the song is rocking very well. Ishtar begins very oriental, features cool riffing and majestic blastbeat parts, all in just one song! The Vineyard drifts after the hyperspeed into depressive slowness. Iīm A Daemond is beating the shit out of hell, what a great, mad song. Iris (And The Burning Aureole) slows down and is a nice contrast. My Red, Red Moon (Emma O) starts like a fag pop song, but itīs a great gothic rocker! Monuments Of Its Own Magnificience is the right end for the album, slow, a bit oriental and very melancholic. The whole album is like a sick trip into a madmanīs world. After all these years, I still have not found an album, which is like Athenian Echoes. Originality at top-level!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Lesbian Show
Nightfallīs fourth full-length album was released in the year 1997. Long-time guitar player Chris Adamou was not longer member of the band. His replacement was Jim Agelopoulos. This was the first Nightfall album, which was not recorded in Greece, but in Finland. The sound is heavy and fits perfectly to the music. Nightfall choses not to continue on the aggressive "Black Metal" path, they now composed songs, which can be described easily: they rock! No more hyper blastbeats and frenzied Black Metal guitars, they were a nice experiment, never an essential part in Nightfallīs music. This album follows more the slower, gothic-oriented songs of Athenian Echoes, but this time, theyīre constituting the whole album. All nine songs are of equal quality and the title song is a real hymn of rocking Gothic Metal! It makes great fun to listen to the album, the boundaries of the single songs are somehow bluring away, it is like there is just one great song on the CD and the really fat guitar soundwall is impressive, too. There is also a limited edition of Lesbian Show, it is limited to 4000 copies and contains a VHS video cassette with the video clip of Lesbian Show, a poster and one bonus song on the CD, a cover from The Cramps, called Mean Machine, which is rocking well too and features a Hammond organ. Nice package, this was before it was possible to put digital bonus video tracks on a CD. After the cult Athenian Echoes, the band managed to release another highlight!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Electronegative
Electronegative is not an album, but a mini CD to promote the unreleased new album, Diva Futura. It was released by Holy Records in 1999. There are four songs on the EP, only Diva is on the album, the other three are available just on the EP. Diva, The Sunless Smile, Dead Donīt Need Revenge and Everything introduced Nightfallīs new musical direction to the metal community. The band dove deeper into Gothic Metal and added much more modern, electronical elements to their sound. The listener will be surprised by the new vocal style of Efthimis, it sounds like sick, desperate croaking. Not bad, but it needs some time to get used to. This mini CD features with Everything also a musical highlight!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Diva Futura
Nightfallīs fifth album is their most experimental. It was released in 1999 by Holy Records. Their line-up had changed again, Jim Agelopoulos was not anymore in the band, new guitar player was Phil Anton. Also, long-time drummer Costas Savidis was replaced by the German drummer Mark Cross. The album was recorded and produced in Hamburg, Germany.
It is difficult to describe the music on Diva Futura. Maybe I should use terms like modern, progressive, rocking Gothic Metal. Maybe I should say just Nightfall. What matter are the songs, and there are many good songs on Diva Futura. Master Faster Sweet Desaster, The Sheer Misfit, the heavier version of Diva (it differs from the mini CD version), Picture Me, Lowve, My Traitorīs Kiss and Pleasure are the highlights (not few as you can see.). The dry vocals of Efthimis are OK, but I prefer his "normal" brutal voice. Nightfall walked new, dark paths with Diva Futura. There are not many bands who can write dark, but still rocking Gothic Metal songs! Nightfall made again a great CD!
It is difficult to describe the music on Diva Futura. Maybe I should use terms like modern, progressive, rocking Gothic Metal. Maybe I should say just Nightfall. What matter are the songs, and there are many good songs on Diva Futura. Master Faster Sweet Desaster, The Sheer Misfit, the heavier version of Diva (it differs from the mini CD version), Picture Me, Lowve, My Traitorīs Kiss and Pleasure are the highlights (not few as you can see.). The dry vocals of Efthimis are OK, but I prefer his "normal" brutal voice. Nightfall walked new, dark paths with Diva Futura. There are not many bands who can write dark, but still rocking Gothic Metal songs! Nightfall made again a great CD!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - I Am Jesus
Four long years we had to wait, until Nightfall released a new album. In 2003 the time had come. Many things happened till the last album. The band changed music label and signed a contract with Greek Black Lotus Records. The bandīs line-up changed dramatically. Only main man and singer Efthimis remained from the old line-up. Guitar player Phil Anton and drummer Mark Cross left. Even Mike Galiatsos, the guitar player from the early days, and a basic songwriter, was not in the band anymore, nevertheless, there are three songs on I Am Jesus, that were written by him. New guitar players were George Bokos and Bob Katsionis (also in Firewind, ex-Casus Belli, touring member of Septic Flesh) he also plays the keyboards (check his solo albums and listen what a talented guitar AND keyboard player he is). Bass was played by Efthimis. For the drums, the band hired the big talent George Kollias. The instruments were recorded and mastered at several occasions in Greece and the album was mixed in Finland.
Musically there is again a musical change, the album does not sound like Diva Futura. It is more atmospheric, less electronical. Samples are gone, but the keyboard is more important than ever. Efthimis is screaming with his powerful voice again. Some songs have similarities with Lesbian Show, as Death Of Neira, Muscat (Dark Dark Road) and The Poor Us. Nightfallīs music is still rocking and I wonder how many different turns they can do, remaining always Nightfall. I Am Jesus has also some great guitar melodies, in the past two albums they concentrated more on riffs. The Senior Lover Of Diamanda or A Pale Crescendo have such cool melodies. The title track is amazing too, as are the calm Luciferin, the weird Iīve Never Dreamt The Life We Share. The last song is called like the band, Nightfall. It is divided into three parts, The Awakening, The Renovation and The Attack. In contrary to the other songs, this is an epic composition. Some said, I Am Jesus was a return to the classic sound of Nightfall, maybe because of some similarities to Lesbian Show. But Nightfall released not just one experimental album in their career, so changes are a constant part of their music. This time, the changes are more backwards, but they still remain changes. And Nightfall still remains great!
Musically there is again a musical change, the album does not sound like Diva Futura. It is more atmospheric, less electronical. Samples are gone, but the keyboard is more important than ever. Efthimis is screaming with his powerful voice again. Some songs have similarities with Lesbian Show, as Death Of Neira, Muscat (Dark Dark Road) and The Poor Us. Nightfallīs music is still rocking and I wonder how many different turns they can do, remaining always Nightfall. I Am Jesus has also some great guitar melodies, in the past two albums they concentrated more on riffs. The Senior Lover Of Diamanda or A Pale Crescendo have such cool melodies. The title track is amazing too, as are the calm Luciferin, the weird Iīve Never Dreamt The Life We Share. The last song is called like the band, Nightfall. It is divided into three parts, The Awakening, The Renovation and The Attack. In contrary to the other songs, this is an epic composition. Some said, I Am Jesus was a return to the classic sound of Nightfall, maybe because of some similarities to Lesbian Show. But Nightfall released not just one experimental album in their career, so changes are a constant part of their music. This time, the changes are more backwards, but they still remain changes. And Nightfall still remains great!
Written by Skariotis
Nightfall - Lyssa / Rural Gods And Astonishing Punishments
The year 2005 gave us a new Nightfall album. Things are almost the same as on the last album I Am Jesus. New bass player is Costas Kyriakopoulos, the label is still Black Lotus Records. Music is still Nightfall (did you expect something else?) Again, the album was recorded and mastered in Athens and mixed in Finland. This time, Nightfall is less atmospheric, but the music is more straight forward and a bit more brutal. Again we have to deal with great riffs and melodies and highlights like Dark Red Sky, Christless, Master Of My Dreams, The End Times, One Of These Days and Essence. Essence features also blastbeats (first time since 1995!), why not, if you have one of the greatest Death Metal drummers in your band.(George Kollias has left Nightfall after that album, he is now the new drummer of extreme US Deathsters Nile!). The digipack version of Lyssa (which can be translated as wild rage) features not only the lyrics of the songs, but they are embedded among thoughts and articles of the main man Efthimis. The unique cover artwork is from Set<H> designs. A really well done package for the as usual great content, Nightfallīs music!
Written by Skariotis
Nocternity - En Oria
En Oria is the first Nocternity album. It was released in the year 2000 from ISO 666 Releases. The main man behind Nocternity is Khal Drogo. He gathered with Merkaal (vocals) from Order Of The Ebon Hand and Lethe (drums) from Septic Flesh/Naer Mataron, to play freezing Black Metal in the Norwegian tradition. Already during the majestic intro, Night Omen, the listener realises, what he can expect from the band: a pure, cold, sharp Black Metal holocaust. Slow, grim songs like To The Shrine, fast songs as The Drowning, or the highlight Queen Of The Deep, or epic songs like the title track. Merkaalīs screams are of high quality as ever, the sound is OK for a debut album, but it lacks the cold atmosphere, that Nocternity will evolve on their next albums. This album was re-released from Solistitium Records as compilation with their Crucify Him EP. It was also re-released by Fog Of The Apocalypse Records as limited edition to 500 pieces on clear vinyl.
Written by Skariotis
Nocternity - Onyx
Nocternity released three years after their debut their second album called Onyx (2003; Solistitium Records). Drummer is not Lethe anymore, the drums are performed by two session musicians, G.Potenti (from Italian Black Metallers Frostmoon Eclipse) and Awraun (from Greek Death Metallers Inveracity). There is also a guest contribution of Therthonax from Kawir and a keyboard outro from Vinterriket.
The album starts slowly with The Song Of Hammers and the harsh guitar sound is drilling in the listenerīs head. Sounds like it was recorded in a big cave somewhere in the mountains! As the time elapses, The Song Of Hammers gets faster and faster, ending in a total Black Metal holocaust. Blacksmithing Black Metal stands on the booklet and this is no false promise. The whole album sounds like it was cast in iron from a giant metal block. The majestic keyboard is all the time present, but decent in the background. The calm acoustic guitar parts are creating (in combination with the keyboard) a cold and monotone atmosphere. The speed is varying from very slow and depressive until hyperspeed drumming. Merkaal is doing his best job here, his screams are mixed not very loud, but he competes easily to the massive sound wall of the other instruments. The songs are all very long in duration (seven till nine minutes), so every song is like a trip deeper into a freezing hell. Exploring this album needs much time. Its duration is only 36 minutes, but there are only five songs and an outro. Very good is also the artwork and the booklet photos. They fit perfectly to the mood of the bandīs music! Nocternityīs fame grew much bigger with Onyx and they are now one of Greeceīs most ambitious bands!
The album starts slowly with The Song Of Hammers and the harsh guitar sound is drilling in the listenerīs head. Sounds like it was recorded in a big cave somewhere in the mountains! As the time elapses, The Song Of Hammers gets faster and faster, ending in a total Black Metal holocaust. Blacksmithing Black Metal stands on the booklet and this is no false promise. The whole album sounds like it was cast in iron from a giant metal block. The majestic keyboard is all the time present, but decent in the background. The calm acoustic guitar parts are creating (in combination with the keyboard) a cold and monotone atmosphere. The speed is varying from very slow and depressive until hyperspeed drumming. Merkaal is doing his best job here, his screams are mixed not very loud, but he competes easily to the massive sound wall of the other instruments. The songs are all very long in duration (seven till nine minutes), so every song is like a trip deeper into a freezing hell. Exploring this album needs much time. Its duration is only 36 minutes, but there are only five songs and an outro. Very good is also the artwork and the booklet photos. They fit perfectly to the mood of the bandīs music! Nocternityīs fame grew much bigger with Onyx and they are now one of Greeceīs most ambitious bands!
Written by Skariotis
Nocternity - A Fallen Unicorn
This release is not the third Nocternity album. It is a compilation CD featuring an intro of Vinterriket (1), unreleased songs of the Onyx album (2-4), a cover version of the Björk song Pagan Poetry (5) and some older recordings, which were already released as split EPīs with Kawir and Akitsa (6-8). A Fallen Unicorn was released from Solistitium Records as a CD and from Debemur Morti Productions as vinyl (without the old bonus songs). The line-up is the same as on Onyx.
A Fallen Unicorn starts just like Onyx ended, with an orchestral keyboard intro performed by the German musician Vinterriket. He recently joined Nocternity as a full member. Next are the three songs, that were not included on the Onyx album: A Fallen Unicorn, The Emerald Serpent Prince and To Grey Olden Shores. The version of the title track is the new recording, not the first recording, which is on the split with Kawir. The first version of that song is track six and here you can notice very well the evolution of the band. All three Onyx recordings have the same standard as Onyx, I think that they were not included, due to their duration and the total duration of Onyx, īcause these three songs would have blown the tolerance of the whole album. Alltogether they have a duration of 50 minutes, but the 36 minutes of Onyx are totally enough! The Björk cover is not a metal song, Merkaal is just screaming against a majestic keyboard sound wall. Cool performance! The last three songs are, as I wrote above, older material. The last two are from the split EP with Akitsa called Worship The End and Cold Wings Of Noctisis. The first song tends to the Onyx direction, but the production is not so powerful, the second is just a short outro. This release shortens the time of waiting for the next Nocternity full-length, which will be released hopefully in 2008 through the well-known Italian label Avantgarde Music.
A Fallen Unicorn starts just like Onyx ended, with an orchestral keyboard intro performed by the German musician Vinterriket. He recently joined Nocternity as a full member. Next are the three songs, that were not included on the Onyx album: A Fallen Unicorn, The Emerald Serpent Prince and To Grey Olden Shores. The version of the title track is the new recording, not the first recording, which is on the split with Kawir. The first version of that song is track six and here you can notice very well the evolution of the band. All three Onyx recordings have the same standard as Onyx, I think that they were not included, due to their duration and the total duration of Onyx, īcause these three songs would have blown the tolerance of the whole album. Alltogether they have a duration of 50 minutes, but the 36 minutes of Onyx are totally enough! The Björk cover is not a metal song, Merkaal is just screaming against a majestic keyboard sound wall. Cool performance! The last three songs are, as I wrote above, older material. The last two are from the split EP with Akitsa called Worship The End and Cold Wings Of Noctisis. The first song tends to the Onyx direction, but the production is not so powerful, the second is just a short outro. This release shortens the time of waiting for the next Nocternity full-length, which will be released hopefully in 2008 through the well-known Italian label Avantgarde Music.
Written by Skariotis
Nordor - Nordorian Manifestations
How to make an album review of a band, which didnīt manage to release one album in 15 years? The people of Sleaszy Rider Records must have a big heart, so they took the three existing demos of Nordor, put them together, released it in 2003 and called the CD Nordorian Manifestations. Twelve songs of which six of them are needless in- and outros or keyboard noise. The remaining six tracks are the most primitive Death Metal I ever heard, with most simple song structures. The One showed us, that you can be simultaneously very primitive and having good songs. There is surely an improvement from the first to the last demo songs, I canīt deny. Also the vocals are good and thereīs a nice booklet. But this is no reason to pay 10 or 15 Euro for this CD. If you see it for 5 or less, I would say it is worth. Or you are a real underground fanatic and you buy every Death Metal CD with inverted crosses on the cover.
Written by Skariotis
Obsecration - The Inheritors Of Pain
This is Obsecrationīs debut album. It was released in the year 1996 from the Dutch label Hammerheart Records (later changed to Karmageddon Media). It contains eight songs, including one intro and one outro performed by Magus Wampyr Daoloth (Necromantia). He also engineered the album. After the intro The Inheritors Of Pain Pt. I, the album starts with Horror In A Gothic Genreīs Grave. Amazing how easily the band could be recognised as Hellenic band! They have similarities to Varathron, especially the vocal style of Costas-Dead, the keyboards and the slower guitar riffs. Despite the similarities, Obsecration is still 100% Death Metal, whereas Varathron always tended ideologically and musically to Black Metal, but of course not to the Nordic style of Black Metal. Obsecrationīs songs tend also to Doom Metal, due to the slow performance of the songs. But they manage to put some short, fast parts into their songs, ...The Usurper From Darkness is a good example for that. In contrast, Suffering Under The Unnamable Shadow starts speedy, but continues in the typical Greek way of mid-tempo-riffing. The culmination of the album is the last song, Offspring Of The Black Dimension. It is divided into three parts, The Black Dimensions, The Offspringīs Arrival and The Spreading Of Black World. Of course this song is the longest in duration (over 13 minutes long), featuring the whole spectrum of variety. The album ends with the outro The Inheritors Of Pain Pt. II. Obsecration put some instrumental interludes between these songs, like For The King Of This World, based on keyboard and The Serenity Of The Crystal Sentiments, based on classic guitars. The Inheritors Of Pain is a typical, Hellenic-sounding album, which wonīt disappoint fans of this genre. Also fans of slow Death and Doom Metal should check it out. The mood of the album is a bit too calm and melancholic and this makes it interesting for Doom Metal maniacs. The only bad thing are the letters on the booklet. Hammerheart wrote it all in a pink colour, in a font that is absolutely not readable! Less drugs, please!
Written by Skariotis
Obsecration - The Last Vision Before The Obliteration
Obsecrationīs third album is a split album with the English Death Metal band Korrodead. It was released in 2002 via Sleaszy Rider Records. Obsecrationīs part is called The Last Vision Before The Obliteration and features eight tracks. First song after the intro is Closed In The Coffin, mainly a fast song with many speed-changes. Next song is the title track and it reminds more than all other songs the past of Obsecration, īcause there are lots of atmospheric keyboards and slow, doomy parts, which remind Obsecrationīs debut album The Inheritors Of Pain, a typical Greek-sounding metal album. Much faster and much more melodic is the song From The Depths Of Our Dreams (The Inheritos Of Pain Part IV). Some calm parts and a nice solo make the song sounds even better! State Of Grace can hold the good quality easily, due to its variable and well-thought songwriting. Obsecration was never a Death Metal band which had to define itself by relentless brutality, like myriads of other Death Metal bands. Instead of too much brutality, they always incorporated slower parts, good solos and keyboards into their sound. Nevertheless, they remained 100% Death Metal. Last song Shadows Of Damnation proves it definitely. Obsecrationīs part ends with the outro Terra Tenebrae. A good release, which has only one weak point and that is the production. It is not bad, but it could be much more powerful.
Korrodeadīs part is called Acts Beyond The Pale. It features five songs of typical fast and brutal Death Metal. The drummer of Korrodead is the drummer of Obsecration, Alex Koutsoudakis. All five songs are OK, full of many speed and riff changes, but for me they are just too traditional Death Metal. This kind of music was played by too many bands before. But my main complaint is the mix of the songs, the growls of vocalist Lee Langley are too silent and therefore to weak.
Korrodeadīs part is called Acts Beyond The Pale. It features five songs of typical fast and brutal Death Metal. The drummer of Korrodead is the drummer of Obsecration, Alex Koutsoudakis. All five songs are OK, full of many speed and riff changes, but for me they are just too traditional Death Metal. This kind of music was played by too many bands before. But my main complaint is the mix of the songs, the growls of vocalist Lee Langley are too silent and therefore to weak.
Written by Skariotis
Obsecration - Sins Of The Flesh
Obsecrationīs third album (the fourth, if you add the split CD with Korrodead) was released in 2002 through Greek label Sleaszy Rider Records. The line-up had some changes, so that there is only Costas-Dead left from the line-up of the debut album. The music changed also. Was Inheritors Of Pain a fine example of slow, Hellenic Death/Doom Metal, there is nothing left from these elements in Sins Of The Flesh. The music here is mainly furious, raging Death Metal, which sounds, despite many melodic elements, very angry. Gone are the slow, grim riffs, the melancholic mood and the atmospheric keyboard. Vocalist Costas-Dead is sounding like a sick, vacuum-cleaner. The musical skill of the band increased a lot there are many good solos on each song. I should mention that the new guitar player is George Bokos, he is also a member of Nightfall and possibly the new Rotting Christ guitarist (he played the Sanctus Diavolos tour).
Sins Of The Flesh starts well with Ravenous, maybe the highlight of the album. An Odour Of Decay and (Weīre) The Almighty Contract (The Inheritors Of Pain Pt. V) sound powerful too, but the band begins to repeat itself. All songs have similar songwriting. All are fast as hell and all have furious guitar solos, but the similarities of the songs are too many. The vocal style of Costas is on each song exactly the same. The whole album sounds like they was in hurry as they recorded the songs, so all songs had to be played fast and relentless. The outcome is, in my opinion, a bit too hectic. I miss the slow riffing of the debut. If they would find a way to combine elements of both albums, this would surely be great! The nice coverartwork is from Set<H>.
Written by Skariotis
Obsecration - Seeds Of A Pervert God
Four years after the Sins Of The Flesh album, Obsecration returned in 2006 with their most powerful record, released by Greek label Supreme Music Creations. Forgotten are the melodic approach and the higher vocals of the last album, this time youīll get a blast of traditional low-tuned Death Metal with great growls right in your face! The riffing, the blastbeats and the vocals are not just typical, they are a concentration of Death Metalīs finest elements! A mix of Bolt Thrower (from the Realm Of Chaos period) and Cannibal Corpse riffing, versatile drumming mainly on fastest speed, and deep growls with some additional screams. All classic Death Metal elements are here and Obsecration present them with the strongest sound of their now 18 year-long career. After the regular eleven songs, there are two more bonus songs on the CD. They are taken from the Vault of the Obscure Vortex EP from the year 2004. Itīs a riddle for me, that Obsecration is hardly known outside Greece, even by fanatic Death Metal maniacs. I hope that Seeds Of A Perverted God will change that!
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Sounds Of Beautiful Experience
This is the bandīs first album, it was released in 1995 through the French label Holy Records (Septic Flesh, Nightfall...). Before that album they had some demos released under the name Phlebotomy. The band plays a mix of atmospheric Death Metal with clean vocals and keyboards, but also with blackish screams. Small highligts are All Is Silent and the instrumental A Dreamer Can Touch The Sky. The last song Taxidi Nostalgias (Nostalgic Journey) is also a beautiful, calm song.
My main aspect of criticism are the clean vocals from Stefanos, which sound somehow weak, more like louder whispers than real singing. His brutal voice is although really good. The songs have to many musical changes and the single parts do not have the time to be noticed properly. This brings a feeling of restlessness into the album. So the whole album sounds kind of strange and hectic. The songwriting is also not really strong, despite the musical abilities of the band. This album is just their first, not their best...
My main aspect of criticism are the clean vocals from Stefanos, which sound somehow weak, more like louder whispers than real singing. His brutal voice is although really good. The songs have to many musical changes and the single parts do not have the time to be noticed properly. This brings a feeling of restlessness into the album. So the whole album sounds kind of strange and hectic. The songwriting is also not really strong, despite the musical abilities of the band. This album is just their first, not their best...
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Orama
Orama means Vision, and the vision of lost Atlantis is the main theme of this album, which was inspired from the hot Greek summer. The line-up from the first album changed, now Stefanos is not only the vocalist, but the bass player too. His weak clean vocals were replaced by the vocals of a female singer, Roula. There are also some session musicians involved. The album was released from Holy Records in 1997.
The album starts with Atlantis I and the renewal of the sound gets immediately noticed, not only in form of the beautiful, gothic-sounding vocals of Roula, but also because Stefanos is concentrating on his brutal growls. The better songwriting is also noticeable and the third song called Oceans is the highlight of the album. The slow music and the female vocals create a depressing feeling, like on the next song, In Heavenīs Island. The listener gets sometimes lost in the beautiful atmosphere of the music, on the fifth track Atlantis II, the vocals are starting after four whole minutes. There is another instrumental, Atlantis III, which contains some oriental sounding flutes. The last three songs are good Gothic/Death Metal songs (which remind me sometimes Septic Flesh), but they cannot impress too much, due to the ordinary songwriting.
This album is really better than the debut, but something is missing, to make this one a really good album. The sound is good, except the sound of the snare, which is a total failure. The songwriting improved much, the different song parts are still various but they do not sound so chaotic anymore. The nice female vocals of Roula replaced the weak, clean vocals of Stefanos, who is now just growling (and he makes it damn good!). Maybe this album is too Death Metal for Gothic Metal and too Gothic Metal for Death Metal. But, as I wrote, something is missing...maybe Iīll find it on the next album.
The album starts with Atlantis I and the renewal of the sound gets immediately noticed, not only in form of the beautiful, gothic-sounding vocals of Roula, but also because Stefanos is concentrating on his brutal growls. The better songwriting is also noticeable and the third song called Oceans is the highlight of the album. The slow music and the female vocals create a depressing feeling, like on the next song, In Heavenīs Island. The listener gets sometimes lost in the beautiful atmosphere of the music, on the fifth track Atlantis II, the vocals are starting after four whole minutes. There is another instrumental, Atlantis III, which contains some oriental sounding flutes. The last three songs are good Gothic/Death Metal songs (which remind me sometimes Septic Flesh), but they cannot impress too much, due to the ordinary songwriting.
This album is really better than the debut, but something is missing, to make this one a really good album. The sound is good, except the sound of the snare, which is a total failure. The songwriting improved much, the different song parts are still various but they do not sound so chaotic anymore. The nice female vocals of Roula replaced the weak, clean vocals of Stefanos, who is now just growling (and he makes it damn good!). Maybe this album is too Death Metal for Gothic Metal and too Gothic Metal for Death Metal. But, as I wrote, something is missing...maybe Iīll find it on the next album.
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Crystal Tears
After their second album Orama, the two main members, the bass player and vocalist Stefanos and main songwriter and guitar player Chris moved to Romania. But they didnīt even think about to put their band on ice. So their next album was written and recorded in Romania, with the help of the female Romanian vocalist Mercela and the violin and keyboard players Elena and Ionna. It came out in the year 1999 through Holy Records.
The musical evolution continued and the band found their perfect sound, by cutting off the Death Metal parts and adding beautiful violin melodies and female vocals to the songs. First good evidence is the opener, the title track Crystal Tears, a great Gothic Metal song. Like on the whole album, the aggression of former albums was substituted by slower, melancholic parts. This continues on the whole album, it doesnīt make any difference if I choose anyone from the ten songs. Personally I like the first track Crystal Tears, the dark rocker Ophelia, the sad Eden, the beautiful Enigma, and the last song Feelings, for me one of the best songs, the band has ever written. The atmosphere of the whole album is dark and melancholic, as the Romanian winter would have asked for its tribute. Marcela is doing a great job and is sharing the vocal work with Stefanos, who is not growling anymore, but he obviously learned to take control of his normal voice. Elena and Ionna contribute very well with their instruments and help to create such an atmosphere. The sound is warm and fits to the music, even though it was recorded in a poor, former eastern block country. On Thorns I Lay made big steps forward and are now rightly one of Greeceīs best metal artists!
The musical evolution continued and the band found their perfect sound, by cutting off the Death Metal parts and adding beautiful violin melodies and female vocals to the songs. First good evidence is the opener, the title track Crystal Tears, a great Gothic Metal song. Like on the whole album, the aggression of former albums was substituted by slower, melancholic parts. This continues on the whole album, it doesnīt make any difference if I choose anyone from the ten songs. Personally I like the first track Crystal Tears, the dark rocker Ophelia, the sad Eden, the beautiful Enigma, and the last song Feelings, for me one of the best songs, the band has ever written. The atmosphere of the whole album is dark and melancholic, as the Romanian winter would have asked for its tribute. Marcela is doing a great job and is sharing the vocal work with Stefanos, who is not growling anymore, but he obviously learned to take control of his normal voice. Elena and Ionna contribute very well with their instruments and help to create such an atmosphere. The sound is warm and fits to the music, even though it was recorded in a poor, former eastern block country. On Thorns I Lay made big steps forward and are now rightly one of Greeceīs best metal artists!
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Future Narcotic
Only one year after the superb Crystal Tears, the band released the next, their fourth album. It is called Future Narcotic and it was released from Holy Records in the year 2000. The biggest difference in the line-up is the new female main vocalist Claudia, who got a more modern touch in her voice than the more classic/gothic-sounding Marcela (Marcela is still a session musician on that album!). There is also a new drummer called Evans.
After the calm violin intro Infinity, the album starts with the title track Future Narcotic. This album, in contrary to the songs of the last album, is more guitar oriented, more rocking, more modern. Stefanos is singing more on that than on Crystal Tears. But Future Narcotic walks the way, that Crystal Tears paved, so there are many similarities between both albums. The title track is a good example, combining new elements and old. The rocking element displaced the melancholy a little bit, the atmosphere is not so dark and intense anymore, but it is still there. Also a good song is Love Can Be A Wave, the violin parts are less and the piano and (acoustic) guitars are more in the forefront. Some highlights are Future Narcotic, Love Can Be A Wave, Desire, and the instrumental The K Song.
The production is very clear and strong. The band moved one step further from the Death Metal roots, but the quality of Crystal Tears cannot be reached by that album. Maybe because there was only one year between both albums, too little time for ten new good songs. There are some good songs on Future Narcotic, but the intense atmosphere is absent. Some years later, Holy Records re-released this album with 7 bonus songs. The band calls it "the complete version". So watch out, if you see it...
After the calm violin intro Infinity, the album starts with the title track Future Narcotic. This album, in contrary to the songs of the last album, is more guitar oriented, more rocking, more modern. Stefanos is singing more on that than on Crystal Tears. But Future Narcotic walks the way, that Crystal Tears paved, so there are many similarities between both albums. The title track is a good example, combining new elements and old. The rocking element displaced the melancholy a little bit, the atmosphere is not so dark and intense anymore, but it is still there. Also a good song is Love Can Be A Wave, the violin parts are less and the piano and (acoustic) guitars are more in the forefront. Some highlights are Future Narcotic, Love Can Be A Wave, Desire, and the instrumental The K Song.
The production is very clear and strong. The band moved one step further from the Death Metal roots, but the quality of Crystal Tears cannot be reached by that album. Maybe because there was only one year between both albums, too little time for ten new good songs. There are some good songs on Future Narcotic, but the intense atmosphere is absent. Some years later, Holy Records re-released this album with 7 bonus songs. The band calls it "the complete version". So watch out, if you see it...
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Angeldust
This is the bandīs first album since the two core members, Stefanos and Chris, returned back to Greece. But it was recorded as they still were in Bucharest. The line-up which recorded it, was the same as on the last album, Future Narcotic. In addition to this line-up, they used the help of a session vocalist called Marius. Now we have three vocalists, the deep voice of Stefanos, the female vocals of Claudia and the guest vocalist Marius, who has a great voice. The funny thing is, that the main vocals are from the new guy, Stefanos makes a good contrast to him and Claudia, the main vocalist of the last album, sings only a few times. After that album, they split up, because the Romanian members didnīt follow to Greece. The band changed also to the Greek label Black Lotus Records, which released Angeldust in 2001.
The opener Sick Screams is a great goth-rocker and Marius shows impressively, why the band let him do the main vocals. This continues on the second song, A Light In Paradise. The band plays catchy riffs, which are heavier than on the last couple of albums, still spreading a depressive atmosphere. The third song, Deep Thoughts, contains a nice duet between the clean voice of Marius and the deeper voice of Stefanos. It also has a beautiful violin melody, which makes the whole song more melancholic. Great song! Next song is the title track Angeldust, this song could have been on Future Narcotic, as it starts with calm acoustic guitars and the female voice of Claudia. But after the intro, Stefanos and Marius share the vocals again. The fifth song is my personal highlight. Moving Cities has really catchy guitars and goes on with the now well-known duet vocals, this song is just rocking! Next track Black Cold Nights features again the female vocals, which are just silent whispers. Good contrast to the aggressive voice of Stefanos. On Independence there is no vocalist at all, despite the fact that they have three good singers. Nice instrumental. On the last song Neverending Hope, Stefanos shows again, that he found the perfect balance between growls and his own deep voice.
After the only satisfying Future Narcotic, the band returns with a great Gothic Metal album. The melancholic violin, the keyboard parts and the calm guitar parts almost disappeared. The female vocals are also in the background. This is an album that is based on distorted, depressive, but also impressive guitars. The clean vocals of Marius fit perfectly to the dark feeling and endorse the deep vocals of Stefanos. The riffs are catchier than ever. This mixture makes Angeldust one of the best On Thorns I Lay album ever!
The opener Sick Screams is a great goth-rocker and Marius shows impressively, why the band let him do the main vocals. This continues on the second song, A Light In Paradise. The band plays catchy riffs, which are heavier than on the last couple of albums, still spreading a depressive atmosphere. The third song, Deep Thoughts, contains a nice duet between the clean voice of Marius and the deeper voice of Stefanos. It also has a beautiful violin melody, which makes the whole song more melancholic. Great song! Next song is the title track Angeldust, this song could have been on Future Narcotic, as it starts with calm acoustic guitars and the female voice of Claudia. But after the intro, Stefanos and Marius share the vocals again. The fifth song is my personal highlight. Moving Cities has really catchy guitars and goes on with the now well-known duet vocals, this song is just rocking! Next track Black Cold Nights features again the female vocals, which are just silent whispers. Good contrast to the aggressive voice of Stefanos. On Independence there is no vocalist at all, despite the fact that they have three good singers. Nice instrumental. On the last song Neverending Hope, Stefanos shows again, that he found the perfect balance between growls and his own deep voice.
After the only satisfying Future Narcotic, the band returns with a great Gothic Metal album. The melancholic violin, the keyboard parts and the calm guitar parts almost disappeared. The female vocals are also in the background. This is an album that is based on distorted, depressive, but also impressive guitars. The clean vocals of Marius fit perfectly to the dark feeling and endorse the deep vocals of Stefanos. The riffs are catchier than ever. This mixture makes Angeldust one of the best On Thorns I Lay album ever!
Written by Skariotis
On Thorns I Lay - Egocentric
New album, new line-up! Being back from Romania, the band needed new blood and they found it in Fotis, their drummer from the old days and in Minas, who is not only the new second guitarist, but also a great singer, ergo: the new vocalist! Egocentric was released from Black Lotus Records in 2003. Itīs a concept album about a man, who is living alone, caught by his own egocentric thoughts. These thoughts are displayed in the lyrics of the album. Thatīs the main reason, why there are almost no female vocals on Egocentric.
The band followed the path of Angeldust, but there are some new elements. The main difference is surely the great voice of Minas, who expresses a lot of feelings through his voice. With the absence of violins or female vocals, he is the main responsible for the melancholic side of the music. For the first time in their career, there was a cooperation on the songwriting and lyrics writing. Chris did the songwriting and Stefanos did the lyrics, this was the division of work. Now Minas did not only participate in writing the lyrics, he also co-wrote some songs. This made Egocentric a more melodic album than Angeldust. The songs are based on catchy guitar riffs, the brutal voice of Stefanos is absent (appears only in parts of Afraid To Believe). The whole concept album has a great mood, combining depression, melancholy, hope and deep emotions. With the use of a classic guitar, they reach sometimes a level which can be called pop music (Gallant Nights). On the other side they have lots of great metal/hard rock riffs (Luck In Resorts, Life Can Be, Afraid To Believe). It is total impossible for me, to pick a single song as highlight. And that is probably the best compliment for a concept album, where the whole art matters, not only one or two songs. Like the egocentric man explores his soul and feelings, the listener have to explore the whole depth of this album and she/he is cursed to live his nightmares again. Wonderful!
The band followed the path of Angeldust, but there are some new elements. The main difference is surely the great voice of Minas, who expresses a lot of feelings through his voice. With the absence of violins or female vocals, he is the main responsible for the melancholic side of the music. For the first time in their career, there was a cooperation on the songwriting and lyrics writing. Chris did the songwriting and Stefanos did the lyrics, this was the division of work. Now Minas did not only participate in writing the lyrics, he also co-wrote some songs. This made Egocentric a more melodic album than Angeldust. The songs are based on catchy guitar riffs, the brutal voice of Stefanos is absent (appears only in parts of Afraid To Believe). The whole concept album has a great mood, combining depression, melancholy, hope and deep emotions. With the use of a classic guitar, they reach sometimes a level which can be called pop music (Gallant Nights). On the other side they have lots of great metal/hard rock riffs (Luck In Resorts, Life Can Be, Afraid To Believe). It is total impossible for me, to pick a single song as highlight. And that is probably the best compliment for a concept album, where the whole art matters, not only one or two songs. Like the egocentric man explores his soul and feelings, the listener have to explore the whole depth of this album and she/he is cursed to live his nightmares again. Wonderful!
Written by Skariotis
Order Of The Ebon Hand - The Mystic Path To The Netherworld
Order Of The Ebon Handīs debut came out in 1997. It was released by the now legendary label Hypervorea Records (later changed to Black Lotus Records), which released also the debuts of Agatus and Zemial. The songs of the album were recorded in two sessions within a year, you can hear that the songs 1-6 differ from songs 7-9 regarding the sound and the songwriting. The band plays Black Metal with influences of the Hellenic and Norwegian scene. Fast parts are often interrupted by slower, traditional Heavy Metal parts. So there are always two sides, a fast one which reminds Scandinavian Black Metal and a slower, which has the typical, more traditional vibes of the Hellenic scene. The album starts rather unspectacular, the first two songs are not really impressive. The first good tunes are the next two, While The Gods Laugh and Fallen Hierarchy. The first one brakes the monotony of the previous fast songs with its slow and catchy riffing. The second is fast again, but reminds also more Greek bands, due to its raw and unpolished sound. The bass guitar is mixed loud and therefore reminds strongly the Necromantia sound. Last regular song from the first recording is Tears In Red, a very unusual song, unusual, īcause it is over ten minutes long, rather rare in the Black Metal genre. Track six, Orions Astron, was initially an outro, now it is some kind of interlude, a nice piece played on the piano. Then come the three newer songs, of these the last song The Skull is the best and the most diverse. The musical skills of the band are good, especially the drumming of Lethe. Merkaalīs screams are unique, but he will top this album in his later works with Nocternity and Mournblade (and of course on the second OOTEH album). After the debut, the band parted ways with guitarist Lorthar, who wrote many of the songs. Musically, the debut cannot reach the second or the Mournblade album, from the nine tracks there are four or five good, but the rest of the material lacks of captivating songwriting. Due to its limited number of 500 pieces, it is strongly recommended to grab The Mystic Path To The Netherworld whenever you will see it! This release is one of the four (!!) Hypervorea albums!
Written by Skariotis
Order Of The Ebon Hand - XV: The Devil
Order of The Ebon Hand are Merkaal (vocals, bass), Lethe (drums, keyboards) and Phlaigon (guitars). The band released their second album after a long silence (the first one is from 1997), called XV: The Devil. The band members are no unexperienced newcomers, but have participated in many bands. Merkaal was the vocalist of the Greek Black Metal band Nocternity. Lethe was the drummer in many bands, like Septic Flesh, Naer Mataron, Thou Art Lord, Horrified... Together with Merkaal and another guy he released also an album under the name Mournblade, which is a great, but almost unknown record. XV: The Devil was released in 2005 from the well-known French label Season Of Mist (Carpathian Forest, Tsjuder, Nattefrost, Gorgoroth...).
The album kicks off with For Marchosias, and the bandīs direction becomes as fast clear, as fast as the music is: this is infernal, hyperspeed Black Metal in the Norwegian tradition. For Marchosias is a good opener, making the listener more ambitious. The second song, To Alloces, is a good continuation, it adds a haunting keyboard melody to the ferocious velocity. This could have been on the Nemesis Divina album from Satyricon, although it is faster and got a nice Heavy Metal solo! Notice, that the orchestral keyboard parts are arranged by Chris from Septic Flesh! Gateway To Silence begins with samples and Merkaalīs infernal screams. A slow guitar riff breaks actually the silence and the song remains a slow rocker, which is good for the balance of the album. Beside the good guitar solo, there is also a saxophone solo, which nobody did since Necromantia on their split EP with Varathron! Track four, The Visitors, returns to the blasting velocity of the first two songs, but canīt reach their quality, even though Merkaal comes up with some sick voices, which remind Attila Csizar on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. So this song becomes boring. Next song, Eibon is a slow atmospheric piece and very short, more an interlude than a real song. A real song is the next one, To Gremory, but again, the high-speed is too much, to make this a good or a remarkable song. In the middle it gets somehow better (because the band makes some speed changes), but the end is again brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrr... Song seven, Spellbound is maybe the highlight of that album! Itīs a cover of the rock band Siouxsie And The Banshees, but Order Of The Ebon Hand performs it like a Black Metal song, itīs really remarkable. It brings something new or modern to the bandīs music. The drums are kind of swinging here. Very cool performance! The next song, The Swordwraith (Unbroken Vow II) is hitting the ground and it is bursting right into hell. This is one of the good fast songs, īcause the riffs are catchier than To Gremory or The Visitors. Last song is (You Are) The Gleaming King. It begins with a traditional metal guitar part and continues with epic Black Metal rhythms, which are played by Sotiris from Septic Flesh and at the end, the song transforms into a blastbeat monster again.
The sound is a little bit dull, the distortions of the instruments and the voice are somehow thicker than usual. The vocals of Merkaal are his own typical mix between Black Metal screams and wolfīs howling. The drums are very well played (Lethe is maybe the best Greek drummer... OK, I donīt forget George Kollias... ) and the guitarist Phlaigon, is also good, no matter if he plays the Black Metal or the Heavy Metal stuff.
Before I wrote the review, I thought that it would not be so good as it is now. But by listening carefully to it, I noticed that there are truly some good songs on that album. And the main matter is, that the hyperspeed blastbeats are stealing the atmosphere from the good songs. After listening to the whole album, the first thing that is remembered, is the relentless drumming on full speed. This works out on some songs, on the first two and on The Swordwraith. But too much is too much, sometimes it gets boring. And that draws off the attention of the good songs, Gateway To Silence and from the great Spellbound. So we have here one killer song, four good songs and four standard Black Metal fillers. But the listener needs much time to get notice of that good songs. There is a strong influence of Heavy Metal, when the band lower its velocity, this is a great precondition for the next album!
The album kicks off with For Marchosias, and the bandīs direction becomes as fast clear, as fast as the music is: this is infernal, hyperspeed Black Metal in the Norwegian tradition. For Marchosias is a good opener, making the listener more ambitious. The second song, To Alloces, is a good continuation, it adds a haunting keyboard melody to the ferocious velocity. This could have been on the Nemesis Divina album from Satyricon, although it is faster and got a nice Heavy Metal solo! Notice, that the orchestral keyboard parts are arranged by Chris from Septic Flesh! Gateway To Silence begins with samples and Merkaalīs infernal screams. A slow guitar riff breaks actually the silence and the song remains a slow rocker, which is good for the balance of the album. Beside the good guitar solo, there is also a saxophone solo, which nobody did since Necromantia on their split EP with Varathron! Track four, The Visitors, returns to the blasting velocity of the first two songs, but canīt reach their quality, even though Merkaal comes up with some sick voices, which remind Attila Csizar on De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. So this song becomes boring. Next song, Eibon is a slow atmospheric piece and very short, more an interlude than a real song. A real song is the next one, To Gremory, but again, the high-speed is too much, to make this a good or a remarkable song. In the middle it gets somehow better (because the band makes some speed changes), but the end is again brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrbrrrrrrrrrr... Song seven, Spellbound is maybe the highlight of that album! Itīs a cover of the rock band Siouxsie And The Banshees, but Order Of The Ebon Hand performs it like a Black Metal song, itīs really remarkable. It brings something new or modern to the bandīs music. The drums are kind of swinging here. Very cool performance! The next song, The Swordwraith (Unbroken Vow II) is hitting the ground and it is bursting right into hell. This is one of the good fast songs, īcause the riffs are catchier than To Gremory or The Visitors. Last song is (You Are) The Gleaming King. It begins with a traditional metal guitar part and continues with epic Black Metal rhythms, which are played by Sotiris from Septic Flesh and at the end, the song transforms into a blastbeat monster again.
The sound is a little bit dull, the distortions of the instruments and the voice are somehow thicker than usual. The vocals of Merkaal are his own typical mix between Black Metal screams and wolfīs howling. The drums are very well played (Lethe is maybe the best Greek drummer... OK, I donīt forget George Kollias... ) and the guitarist Phlaigon, is also good, no matter if he plays the Black Metal or the Heavy Metal stuff.
Before I wrote the review, I thought that it would not be so good as it is now. But by listening carefully to it, I noticed that there are truly some good songs on that album. And the main matter is, that the hyperspeed blastbeats are stealing the atmosphere from the good songs. After listening to the whole album, the first thing that is remembered, is the relentless drumming on full speed. This works out on some songs, on the first two and on The Swordwraith. But too much is too much, sometimes it gets boring. And that draws off the attention of the good songs, Gateway To Silence and from the great Spellbound. So we have here one killer song, four good songs and four standard Black Metal fillers. But the listener needs much time to get notice of that good songs. There is a strong influence of Heavy Metal, when the band lower its velocity, this is a great precondition for the next album!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Thy Mighty Contract Rerelease
Please take a look at our Typical Hellenic Black Metal Sound section for a detailed review of the music. This review is just for the rerelease!
This Black Metal classic was rereleased in 1997 by the then-label of the band, Century Media. Its indeed positive to see such a killer album being rereleased! There are two bonus songs on it, taken from the Apokathelosis EP from 1993. There is also a vinyl picture disc available! But the positive things end here.
Firstly, the new artwork cannot compete with the original one, its just inferior. Secondly, the recordings were not remastered. Its maybe not so important, as the original record has a satisfying sound, but Im sure that a remastering would support more the raw energy of this release! Thirdly, the mistake of the original album, the confusion of song four Dive The Deepest Abyss and song six His Sleeping Majesty, is also present on the rerelease. How can a mistake happen twice? This attitude shows us that the label didnt put enough effort to make a proper rerelease! They just exploited the fame of that album and wanted to take advantage of it! The two bonus tracks are the only selling points. What a great rerelease this could be...!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Non Serviam
In 1994, one year after the great debut Thy Mighty Contract, Rotting Christ released their second album called Non Serviam (Latin: I Will Not Serve) through the Greek label Unisound Records. The line-up was the same as in Thy Mighty Contract, Necromayhem (Sakis), Mutilator (Jim), Sauron (Themis) and Magus Wampyr Daoloth (formerly Morbid).
The album starts powerfully with The Fifth Illusion and continues with the wonderful Wolfera The Chacal. The typical guitar riffs of Sakis are easy recogniseable, he can make the guitar to sound aggressive, or dreamy and playful. Third track is the title track and maybe the most popular song the band has ever recorded. On the gigs you can hear all the time people shouting: NON SERVIAM. Amazing song! This album is much slower than its predecessor, if there werenīt some very fast parts, it could be called a doom album. Songs like Morality Of A Dark Age, Mephesis Of Black Crystal and Saturn Unlock Aveyīs Son are flowing like slow, black, unstoppable lava.
It was good that the band decided not to stay fixed on the sound of Thy Mighty Contract. Non Serviam took the next musical step, as the band refined their songwriting. Of course these changes departed them more from the rising, aggressive sounding Norwegian scene. And unfortunately, the band signed to an impotent label, īcause Unisound failed to promote the album adequate and worldwide. Many Black Metal fans outside of Greece do not know this album. Despite the musical progress, the bandīs fame stagnated.
The album starts powerfully with The Fifth Illusion and continues with the wonderful Wolfera The Chacal. The typical guitar riffs of Sakis are easy recogniseable, he can make the guitar to sound aggressive, or dreamy and playful. Third track is the title track and maybe the most popular song the band has ever recorded. On the gigs you can hear all the time people shouting: NON SERVIAM. Amazing song! This album is much slower than its predecessor, if there werenīt some very fast parts, it could be called a doom album. Songs like Morality Of A Dark Age, Mephesis Of Black Crystal and Saturn Unlock Aveyīs Son are flowing like slow, black, unstoppable lava.
It was good that the band decided not to stay fixed on the sound of Thy Mighty Contract. Non Serviam took the next musical step, as the band refined their songwriting. Of course these changes departed them more from the rising, aggressive sounding Norwegian scene. And unfortunately, the band signed to an impotent label, īcause Unisound failed to promote the album adequate and worldwide. Many Black Metal fans outside of Greece do not know this album. Despite the musical progress, the bandīs fame stagnated.
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers
Rotting Christ learned enough from their mistakes. Despite the superb Non Serviam, the band didnīt progress. Firstly, they needed a competent music label and then they needed a music studio which would give them a proper sound. They found both and they made one of their best albums: Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers. It was recorded at Stage One Studio and produced by famous Andy Classen (Holy Moses). It was released 1996 from the German label Century Media. The band was back in business again! Magus Wampyr Daoloth left the band to concentrate on his own band Necromantia and Rotting Christ continued as a three-piece. The album was released also as digipack version with different artwork and two cover-songs of the band Kreator as bonus. The songs are Tormentor and a medley of Flag Of Hate/Pleasure To Kill.
Despite the fact, that the music is only sometimes fast (unlike "normal" Black Metal), this is one of the blackest albums Iīve ever heard. The production is raw, powerful and clear. The music and the lyrics create a pure, dark atmosphere. The album starts with the all-time classic King Of A Stellar War, with its wonderful melody between the black sound. Like the whole album, the rhythm of this track is pounding slowly and relentless. A Dynasty From The Ice is continuing the slower paths, it sounds sometimes dreamy and melancholic as well. Archon features the first fast Black Metal attack. The fewer the blasting parts, the more aggressive they sound! Despite the speed, did anyone thought that Rotting Christ forgot the wonderful melodies? No, of course not! Archon belongs to the standard setlist of a live gig. Snowing Still impresses with depressive sounding guitars, Shadows Follow follows in the same mood. One With The Forest, Diastric Alchemy, The Opposite Bank and The First Field Of The Battle, all are full of sweeping guitar riffs and dreamy melodies. Not one single note is weak! This is the perfect album for a cold, dark autumn evening!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - A Dead Poem
A Dead Poem was released in the year 1997 from Century Media. According to the band, this is their most successful album regarding the sales. I can remember that Century Media did a great promotional job at that time, did many advertisements, featured songs in compilations, and the band got everywhere very good reviews. The line-up changed, founding member Jim Mutilator (the main lyrics writer of the band) decided to retire from the music business. Together with the new bass player Andreas, the band hired also a second guitar player, Kostas (he already played with the band on the Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers tour) and a keyboard player called Panagiotis. The original members Necromayhem and Necrosauron changed to their real names, Sakis and Themis. They changed their logo too, making it better readable. But some old fans were disappointed, īcause the band moved some stepps further, than everybody expected. The production was done by Xy (of Samael). He gave the band a warm, crystal clear sound. On the song Among Two Storms there is a guest appearance from Fernando of Moonspell. Some copies of the album included a Century Media compilation called Darkness We Feel.
First of all, A Dead Poem is not a Black Metal album. There is no fast song on it, the speed is mainly mid-tempo or slow. The only blackish thing is the dark mood of the music and the voice of Sakis, which is now raspier than never before. The music has not wimped out (as many said), but it is still heavier than 70 % of the metal scene. Many called it Gothic Metal (whatīs Gothic here?) or Dark Metal (music which is played by former Black/Death Metal bands such as Samael, Moonspell or Sentenced). They had their problems to categorise Rotting Christīs music. How to call metal that is not so brutal but still full of strong riffs and melodies, keyboards, a Black Metal voice and dark atmosphere? Of course it is Heavy Metal, but dressed in black colours. Conclusion: Black Heavy Metal!
The ten songs will pull you in a dark place, full of melancholy and grief. It doesnīt make any difference to pick a single song as perfect example, of the uniqe and outstanding songwriting. I let you to pick the highlight: the best songs are ______________________________!
First of all, A Dead Poem is not a Black Metal album. There is no fast song on it, the speed is mainly mid-tempo or slow. The only blackish thing is the dark mood of the music and the voice of Sakis, which is now raspier than never before. The music has not wimped out (as many said), but it is still heavier than 70 % of the metal scene. Many called it Gothic Metal (whatīs Gothic here?) or Dark Metal (music which is played by former Black/Death Metal bands such as Samael, Moonspell or Sentenced). They had their problems to categorise Rotting Christīs music. How to call metal that is not so brutal but still full of strong riffs and melodies, keyboards, a Black Metal voice and dark atmosphere? Of course it is Heavy Metal, but dressed in black colours. Conclusion: Black Heavy Metal!
The ten songs will pull you in a dark place, full of melancholy and grief. It doesnīt make any difference to pick a single song as perfect example, of the uniqe and outstanding songwriting. I let you to pick the highlight: the best songs are ______________________________!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Sleep Of The Angels
After the ground-breaking A Dead Poem, Rotting Christ released Sleep Of The Angels in 1999. Both albums have many things in common. The less brutal songwriting, the same producer (Xy of Samael), the same studio (Woodhouse Studios Hagen), the same included compilation CD (Darkness We Feel Vol. 2). But Sleep Of The Angels is not a A Dead Poem clone. There are of course changes, Rotting Christ never stagnates! First, they got a new keyboard player named George. The songs are a bit calmer and melancholic than the songs on A Dead Poem, and the production sounds also not exactly the same, now Xy put emphasis on a stronger bass and keyboard sound. Waldemar Sorychta (of Grip Inc.) contributed some cool guitar solos. The album is (again) full of beautiful songs, somewhere between Black, Dark and atmospheric Heavy Metal. Biggest surprise is Der Perfekte Traum, it has not only a German title (The Perfect Dream), but Sakis is sharing vocals with a German guest singer, who sings also in German! Great song! There is one fast song on the album, it is called The World Made End. Tenth song Thine Is The Kingdom made end to Sleep Of The Angels. Great song, which lyrics were not written in the booklet. Many fans questioned why. They are taken from a poem by T.S. Eliot called The Hollow Men. It was written in the year 1925. Sakis chose a poem as lyrics for his song, which fits perfectly to the other lyrics of the band. For the first time Sakis had to write lyrics, īcause former lyrics writer, bass man Jim, had left the band. Jim did the complete lyrics on A Dead Poem and even for one song on Sleep Of The Angels, despite the fact, that he had left the band after the Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers album! The only bad thing on Sleep Of The Angels is the front cover. But the music is anyway great!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Der Perfekte Traum
Der Perfekte Traum is not an album, but a single of the song Der Perfekte Traum, which is on the album Sleep Of The Angels. Of course the single was just released for promotional reasons. It hit the streets in 1999 (after the album), released through Century Media.
It is worth of notice, īcause for the cost of a single you will not only get the song Der Perfekte Traum, but also an unreleased track called Moonlight (amazing song, by the way), which is only on the compilation Dakness We Feel Vol.2. And as bonus, there are live performances of five songs from the Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers album! The well sounding live recordings are from the songs Shadows Follow, Diastric Alchemy, A Dynasty From The Ice, The First Field Of The Battle and King Of A Stellar War. These five songs are more than 50% of the material of that cult album! This is surely much value for little money.
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Khronos
Rotting Christ released Khronos in the year 2000, just one year after the Sleep Of The Angels album, through Century Media. This album is a new beginning into a more brutal sound, which will be continued by its successors, Genesis and Sanctus Diavolos. The label and the press wanted to sell this like a return to the good old days, but by getting again more Black Metal this does not mean that the band returned to the songwriting of Thy Mighty Contract. Rotting Christ always looked to the future, not to the past. Khronos is maybe a faster album, but it is also full of elements of the last two "softer" albums. Khronos canīt be compared with any other album (like Sleep Of The Angels to A Dead Poem). The band decided to record and to produce it at the famous Abyss Studios of Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) in Sweden. That was maybe not a good move, īcause the productions of Tägtgren are known as cold, they lack of a proper bass sound. This maybe fitted to some Scandinavian Black Metal bands (I think that Marduk and Dimmu Borgir got their perfect sound on their albums which are not produced by Tägtgren), but in Rotting Christīs case the cold sound does not sound good. Xy did a great job on the former productions with the warm bass and the clear production. The drum sound on Khronos is also not the best. This is the worst sound since Non Serviam (not really bad, but worse than on the last three albums).
The musical change gave Khronos a more diverse sound, there are of course many amazing mid-tempo songs, which only Rotting Christ can compose, like If It Ends Tomorrow, My Sacred Path, Art Of Sin, the great cover-version Lucifer Over London (original is from Current 93) and the title track Khronos. But there are also fast songs or songs with faster Black Metal elements, like the furious opener Thou Art Blind, Aeternatus, You Are I, Fateless, Time Stands Still and Glory Of Sadness. Sakis has more variability in his voice, but this will become more apparent on the next albums. The keyboard sound is louder than on the last albums. Coverartwork is from Set<H> (Septic Flesh) and symbolises the bandīs name very well (without being too offensive). The CD contains a video track in mpg format. It is a video clip of the track After Dark I Feel from the Sleep Of The Angels album. Itīs an artistic video with some cool effects and some strange pictures, it does not show the band live on stage or something like that. Nice bonus!
The musical change gave Khronos a more diverse sound, there are of course many amazing mid-tempo songs, which only Rotting Christ can compose, like If It Ends Tomorrow, My Sacred Path, Art Of Sin, the great cover-version Lucifer Over London (original is from Current 93) and the title track Khronos. But there are also fast songs or songs with faster Black Metal elements, like the furious opener Thou Art Blind, Aeternatus, You Are I, Fateless, Time Stands Still and Glory Of Sadness. Sakis has more variability in his voice, but this will become more apparent on the next albums. The keyboard sound is louder than on the last albums. Coverartwork is from Set<H> (Septic Flesh) and symbolises the bandīs name very well (without being too offensive). The CD contains a video track in mpg format. It is a video clip of the track After Dark I Feel from the Sleep Of The Angels album. Itīs an artistic video with some cool effects and some strange pictures, it does not show the band live on stage or something like that. Nice bonus!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Genesis
Genesis hit the streets in 2002. It was produced in Stage One Studios by Andy Classen (he also produced Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers). The sound is reaching almost perfection, very good work! The music is the most mature work Rotting Christ has ever released. You really need some time to recognise all the hidden technical and musical aspects of the overall sound. The band added sound samples of female vocals into their typical sound. Also, the music is more aggressive than Khronos. Sakis sings some clean vocals as well.
The album starts with the speedy, technical Daemons, which has beside the English lyrics for the first time lyrics in ancient Greek. Amazing guitar melodies on full speed, great opener! Lex Talionis kicks off in the same direction, it features a fast lead guitar and a sampled choir, making it a very bombastic song. Quintessence starts with a great traditional riff and it contains also a nice lead guitar and a refrain which is sung by Sakis with clean vocals. Song four, Nightmare, slows down the speed, nice atmospheric track, which sadly canīt reach similar songs on albums like A Dead Poem or Sleep Of The Angels. Next song, In Domine Sathana is a pure Black Metal song and for me the worst song the band has ever written. It is just fast, ordinary Black Metal, like many bands play and the lyrics are very uninspiring with many repeats, making the song way too long. Such songs should be just two or three minutes long. Luckily the album gets better again, with Release Me. Nice mid-tempo song with variable vocals. Call Of The Aethyrs proves that the band can make intelligent fast songs. Dying could also be on Khronos or Sleep Of The Angels, slow, atmospheric piece. The last two songs, Ad Noctis and Under The Name Of Legion are the best songs on Genesis and alltime Rotting Christ hymns. This is modern, powerful Black Metal!
All in all, Genesis is a great album, but it has two quite ordinary songs. But thereīs one thing to mention: the songs of Genesis are technically and musically first-class quality. But some of them do not fit for a live performance, as everybody can see it on the bandīs official DVD, In Domine Sathana. Things become very static when the band plays the Genesis songs. A live gig demands simpler song structures. Genesis is a great studio album (like newer Dimmu Borgir albums) but it has no live spirit.
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Christ - Sanctus Diavolos
Rotting Christ is a band that has changed direction slightly from album to album, but has always managed to keep the own distinctive sound. You can always tell itīs Rotting Christ on your speakers. Their last albums are a a slight return to the early sound, but not all together, one might say the music has become more modernized, and perhaps even more refined. Sanctus Diavolos is an album from a band that is professional to the fingertips. One might have thought that a band with so many albums would begin to stagnate, but that is not the case.
Rotting Christ delivers strong songs as usual, and has started to incorporate deep clean vocals as well, something that works fine alongside the rather raspy black vocals. Choirs are incorporated in the music, and this time they are not just samples but choirs, directed and arranged by Christos A. from Septic Flesh and Chaostar, giving great effect to the dark music. More distorted riffs alternate with stronger, clearer riffs and a lot of sparing higher guitar tunes. The speed varies from mid-tempo to some faster parts. This album is in my opinion the strongest of the newer Rotting Christ albums. An album that should won them new fans along with pleasing the old fans. Great cover artwork by Set<H>!
Written by Morten
Rotting Christ - Theogonia
The most famous Greek metal band changed record label after the excellent Sanctus Diavolos album. The contract with Century Media expired and the band decided to trust the French label Season Of Mist. I think the band decided rightfully, Century Mediaīs promotion work was just terrible after Khronos, everybody could see that they didnīt want to spend more than a dime for the bandīs last two albums. Almost no adds in magazines, almost no songs in compilations, very poor work. In contrast to Century Media, which has a wider range of artists, Season Of Mist is still dedicated to the extreme forms of metal and their band roster proves that: Mayhem, Watain, Ancient Rites etc. The new album is called Theogonia, derived from the ancient Greek writer Hesiod, who wrote an opus about the genesis of the gods and the world. I was a bit anxious before I listened to Theogonia, would the band maintain the high quality of the last album Sanctus Diavolos? The pressure for the band was surely big, a new label is like a new beginning, you have to prove it again, even if youīre a band which released so many albums in the past. By listening Theogonia many times, one thought eliminated all doubts of the past: This is a masterpiece!
A masterpiece, from the start to the end. The Sign Of Prime Creation, a blistering fast opener with a magnificient choir chanting in ancient Greek. Unusual for the band is track two, Keravnos Kivernitos. Its beginning does not care about the bandīs common formula of thoughtful songwriting. Hectic and faster than any song of the last 15 years, it pounds relentlessly, but suddenly in the middle, it turns into a stirring Rotting Christ hymn with melodic guitars and again, with the Greek choir. Song three Nemecic (pronounce it Nemesis) is an innovation for the bandīs sound, for the first time they used a Greek folk instrument to complete their sound. Even without it, Nemecic would be a great track, fitting best to the A Dead Poem album. But with it, itīs nothing less than a dark hymn from ancient times. Next song Enuma Elish, features lyrics in ancient Sumerian and is a perfect example of the maturity of the bandīs songwriting: starting with fast, industrialised rhythms, accompanied with strange wind instruments, then changing into a majestic refrain, interrupted by a middle-eastern chants and instruments and a classic metal guitar solo at the end. This is the bandīs most eastern-influenced song, proving that you donīt have to descend from "the north lands" to play amazing Black Metal. Song five, Phoboīs Synagogue is like a travel through the time. The slow riffing, the stamping drums and the keyboards remind the glorious days of the Hellenic Black Metal scene! This song could be on the Passage To Arcturo album from 1991! Great lyrics by the way (resumé: religion uses fear to keep humanity down). Gaia Tellus features again the choir, this time with Latin lyrics (which are often used by the band in the past), good song, but not so amazing as the rest of the material. Rege Diabolicus is the modern equivalent to the classic The Sign Of Evil Existence. Short in duration, fast as hell and evil in its spirit! Greetings from Thy Mighty Contract! He, The Aethyr slows down, reminds the atmosphere of their Genesis album. Not just reminding it, this song would be one of Genesisī best! The ninth track Helios Hyperion is thrashing wild and Sakis uses a distorted voice here. Maybe the most modern and brutal song on the album and the solo at the end is just sick! Threnody completes Theogonia, as the title promises, itīs a slow, melancholic song, full of feelings of grief and mourning. The band added Epirotian Klarino sounds (a clarinet from the north-western Greek region Epiros) to the song. A good choice, because Epirotian music is known as the Blues of Greek folk musik, due to its slow and sorrowful sound.
Generally, the impact of the keyboard is lesser on Theogonia. This is a guitar-driven album, enriched by the choir arrangements of Christos Antoniou (Septic Flesh, Chaostar) and by traditional Greek folk instruments. In contrast to Sanctus Diavolos, the choir sounds not so threatingly and dark. Lyrically, the band uses more than ever Greek lyrics, but Latin and Sumerian too. Itīs based on ancient Hellenic myths, but itīs not a pagan metal album! Iīm really stunned, Sakis managed to make again an album which combines the glorious past of the band with new elements, making a further step forward, but remaining still Rotting Christ! The CD features also the video clip for Keravnos Kivernitos and comes with a bonus DVD, with scenes from the recording process of Theogonia and from their last world tour. A nice extra to an almost perfect album!
Written by Skariotis
Rotting Flesh - Dreaming... The Underworld
I sort of had an idea of what to expect when I first heard this bandīs name. I was expecting something in the vein of Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh as the name seems to be a mixture of these two well-known Hellenic bands. Well, itīs not too far off. Rotting Flesh plays a sort of atmospheric Death Metal. The riffs are good and quite catchy and the band differs from most generic Death Metal, by the use of keys. The keys arenīt used in any excessive fashion, but add a great deal of atmosphere. The vocals are quite Death Metal-oriented growls (which are quite deep and nice), but sometimes for shorter periods we get a more blackish rasp also. Short narration is delivered by a female singer with an moderate accent on the second song, when we are welcomed to the underworld. All in all, I think this album will appeal to fans of atmospheric Hellenic Metal, but also to fans of say Sepultura around the time of Beneath The Remains. Some of the riffs sounds very familiar, so in terms of originality this isnīt to great, but nevertheless a good album.
Written by Morten
Selefice - Where Is The Heaven
Selefice released the debut album in 1993 through Molon Lave/Soundphaze International. They play a mix of Thrash Metal and traditional Death Metal, as it was usual in the early 90īs. Nevertheless, they show also a calmer, slower side, Greek bands were never famous for relentless brutality, but for slower speeds and melodies, and Selefice are no exeption. Despite some catchy and good songs like I Was Born In Darkness, The Duty Of Lie and Where Is The Heaven, the CD lacks of some real highlights. The songs are all not bad and also very melodic, yet full of riffs, but I miss something that impresses me. The whole album is too mediocre and sadly Selefice split up after that, so their first album is also their last. Many bands started with mediocre albums, but grew with the years, something that Selefice cannot prove anymore.
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - Mystic Places Of Dawn
This is Septic Flesh`s debut full length. Itīs also one of my personal favorite albums. An album that is filled with dreamy soundscapes and melancholic atmospheres. The style played is a sort of non- generic Death Metal, that has both, tempo and variation and manages to give a relaxing feel. Not very common for Death Metal. Set<H>`s deep growls are superb! Small amounts of keyboard are used, but not too much. For instance track number 6, The Underwater Garden, has one of my favorite keyboard parts of all time. Originally this album had nine songs of which one was an instrumental. The track Morpheus the Dreamlord has a slightly different production than the rest of the songs, since it was recorded a little earlier than the rest of the songs.
The band uses a drum machine on this record, but its no big deal. If you consider buying this truly great album, most likely you`ll get the re-release that includes the whole Temple of The Lost Race mini album as bonus songs.
This is truly a legendary album!
Written by Morten
Septic Flesh - Esoptron
One year after their debut, Septic Flesh released their second album titled and written in Greek, Esoptron. It seems that at that time the band had only two members, Spiros and Sotiris, īcause Chris was in England for studies. The drums are probably played by a drum machine.
Generally, Esoptron is a bit calmer than the debut, īcause there are not many fast, aggressive parts on it. The music is mainly slow, atmospheric Death Metal. The melancholic melodies and riffs of Sotiris and the deep vocals of Spiros are the main characteristics. Songs like Esoptron, Burning Phoenix or the experimental Narcissism are good examples for that. Rain and So Clean, So Empty are the only tracks, which feature significant fast and brutal parts. Ice Castle reminds sometimes Bathory, with its slow riffs and the choir. Three tracks are just short interludes. They would have fit better when there would be more aggressive songs on the album, but now, itīs a bit too calm! Esoptron is a good album, but for me not yet the perfect mixture between atmospheric and brutal parts (the band calls its music Dark Romanticism and Ancient Memory). You have to be in a special mood for the slow, melancholic music. If you are, enjoy this album!
Generally, Esoptron is a bit calmer than the debut, īcause there are not many fast, aggressive parts on it. The music is mainly slow, atmospheric Death Metal. The melancholic melodies and riffs of Sotiris and the deep vocals of Spiros are the main characteristics. Songs like Esoptron, Burning Phoenix or the experimental Narcissism are good examples for that. Rain and So Clean, So Empty are the only tracks, which feature significant fast and brutal parts. Ice Castle reminds sometimes Bathory, with its slow riffs and the choir. Three tracks are just short interludes. They would have fit better when there would be more aggressive songs on the album, but now, itīs a bit too calm! Esoptron is a good album, but for me not yet the perfect mixture between atmospheric and brutal parts (the band calls its music Dark Romanticism and Ancient Memory). You have to be in a special mood for the slow, melancholic music. If you are, enjoy this album!
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - Ophidian Wheel
Ophidian Wheel is the bandīs third strike. It was released in 1997 from Holy Records. It differs from the previous albums, by mixing their atmospheric Death Metal with the female vocals of Natalie Rassoulis and some classical elements, which are composed by the second guitar player Chris (he studied composing and music in London).
These different elements make this album very enjoyable, it does not get boring, even if you listen to it over and over again. The speed is faster than on the last album, Esoptron. There are some great Death Metal songs, such as The Future Belongs To The Brave, Razorblades Of Guilt, Geometry In Static, as well as slower Gothic-Death Metal hymns like the title track Ophidian Wheel, Phallic Litanies, Shamanic Rite with its wonderful shamanic-sounding chant, or Heaven Below and classical interludes, Tartarus, Microcosmos, Enchantment, which will lead later to the side-project Chaostar. There are also plenty of great lead guitar solos. The voice of Spiros is as always deep as hell but also very powerful. And so is the production, which is the best, Septic Flesh had till then. Ophidian Wheel is for me the first real highlight of Septic Fleshīs career, īcause here appear for the first time all the elements, which became "typical" Septic Flesh and stayed "typical" Septic Flesh until the last album. Great CD!
These different elements make this album very enjoyable, it does not get boring, even if you listen to it over and over again. The speed is faster than on the last album, Esoptron. There are some great Death Metal songs, such as The Future Belongs To The Brave, Razorblades Of Guilt, Geometry In Static, as well as slower Gothic-Death Metal hymns like the title track Ophidian Wheel, Phallic Litanies, Shamanic Rite with its wonderful shamanic-sounding chant, or Heaven Below and classical interludes, Tartarus, Microcosmos, Enchantment, which will lead later to the side-project Chaostar. There are also plenty of great lead guitar solos. The voice of Spiros is as always deep as hell but also very powerful. And so is the production, which is the best, Septic Flesh had till then. Ophidian Wheel is for me the first real highlight of Septic Fleshīs career, īcause here appear for the first time all the elements, which became "typical" Septic Flesh and stayed "typical" Septic Flesh until the last album. Great CD!
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - A Fallen Temple
This album got two different styles. The first three songs are Gothic Metal with beautiful female vocals, a clean male vocal and very little use of death growls. Nicely done, catchy and easy accessible songs. Then comes the track Underworld, which is not really a metal song, but rather an operatic/theatrical piece. This song marks the start of the other part of the album, which is really a new recording of the Temple Of The Lost Race mini album from 1993. The songs are slightly rearranged, but not in any drastic way. This part of the album is my favourite. Here we get atmospheric Death Metal, of the kind Septic Flesh did in their early career. Then comes Underworld part 2, followed by a dark version of the second track The Eldest Cosmonaut. This dark version contains much more use of growls than the clean version. And it is in my opinion far superior, they also made a video clip for it.
I would recommend this album to those who maybe just has heard the Sumerian Daemons album, and wonders what early Septic Flesh sounded like during different times in their career. The reason for that is, that here you get an idea of what they sounded like during the more Death Metal period as well as the more Gothic Metal oriented part of their career.
I would recommend this album to those who maybe just has heard the Sumerian Daemons album, and wonders what early Septic Flesh sounded like during different times in their career. The reason for that is, that here you get an idea of what they sounded like during the more Death Metal period as well as the more Gothic Metal oriented part of their career.
Written by Morten
Septic Flesh - The Eldest Cosmonaut (also known as D.N.A Choronzone)
The Eldest Cosmonaut is a mini album or just a single release. It was released from Holy Records in 1998, shortly after the album A Fallen Temple. It is available as single CD and in combination with a VHS video cassette, which features the bandīs first video clip The Eldest Cosmonaut. The release contains four songs. First song is the video remix of The Eldest Cosmonaut. It is shorter than the album version on A Fallen Temple, but still a great song. Second track is Underworld Part III, an unreleased track. Like Underworld I and II (which are on A Fallen Temple), this is not a metal song, but an orchestral composition of Chris. These three tracks are the first signs of classical compositions, which will later lead to the formation of the side-project Chaostar. Third track, Finale, is also such a classic piece. Last song is the remastered version of Woman Of The Rings. Searching for that track, I noticed, that it is not on any Septic Flesh album, but on a compilation CD from Holy Records, which was released in 1996. I like that song very much, sad that it wasnīt put in a full-length album. The weird cover artwork is from Spiros (Set<H>). Interesting, they already wrote D.N.A Choronzone on the cover, an advice to their next album Revolution D.N.A.?
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - Revolution DNA
Septic Fleshīs fifth album cannot be compared to any other album, the band had made before. There are many changes regarding the songwriting and the vocals. The album was released in the year 1999 from Holy Records. First of all, this is not a Death Metal album. The music is modern Heavy Metal with strong influences of Gothic Metal. There are no female vocals anymore, Spiros is now sharing his deep vocals (not exactly growls anymore) with the clean vocals of Sotiris, the guitar player and main songwriter. This gives the band the gothic touch. Also new is the drummer, Akis K. (Lethe from Order Of The Ebon Hand, Naer Mataron) gives his respectable debut in Septic Flesh. With the absence of Natalie and the division of the classical elements to form the project Chaostar, the operatic nature disappeard. But that does not mean, that Revolution DNA is a bad album!
Songs like the speedy opener Science, the highlight Little Music Box, the semi-title tracks Revolution and DNA, the evoking Nephilim Sons, the rocking Telescope or the sarcastic Dictatorship Of The Mediocre, make Revolution DNA a superior album. Since all songs are in the same style, the variety of past albums canīt be reached. And thatīs the only weak point of the album. The production is very strong and clear, as the band recorded Revolution DNA in the Swedish Fredman Studio with the well-known metal producer Fredrik Nordström. Many fans were disappointed, as the music has become less violent. They also missed the typical Septic Flesh ingredients, like female vocals, Death Metal and the classical music. Many thought, Septic Flesh was becoming a wimpy Gothic Band. Nobody knew at that time, that the band would give the right answer to these idiots, in form of their next album Sumerian Daemons!
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - Forgotten Paths (The Early Days)
Forgotten Paths is a collection of songs, the band played on its first year of existence (1990-1991). The songs on this CD are older than even their songs on the classic Temple Of The Lost Race EP! The style of the band was a different one than we know today. At that time, Septic Flesh played Death Metal, strong influenced by US bands like Obituary and early Death. There is nothing on that release which sounds nearly like their debut album. Spiros even growls sometimes like John Tardy from Obituary (what a talent!). The music is mainly catchy mid-tempo Death Metal. You wouldnīt hear that they were not from Florida, if you didnīt know. Sometimes you can hear that they were a really young band at that time, īcause the songs sound more or less the same. There are two parts on the CD, a studio part and a live part. I donīt know where the band recorded the songs, īcause they sound pretty good. Surely they remastered them for this CD. The studio songs are: Intro, Power Of The Dark, Melting Brains, Unholy Ritual, Curse Of Death, Forgotten Path and Outro. The live songs were recorded 1991 at Rodon Club, Athens (there was an underground-festival organised by the label Molon Lave Records, only with Greek bands participating, which lasted for ten (!) days). The band probably didnīt had more songs, so there are three live versions of songs I mentioned above: Power Of The Dark, Forgotten Path and Melting Brains. This release is something really special and shows a face of the band, which only few persons knew before this release. It was released from Black Lotus Records in the year 2000 as limited edition. Very cult!
Written by Skariotis
Septic Flesh - Sumerian Daemons
Let me start by saying, that if we had a grading system on this page, this album would receive a full score. This is truly a gem of an album. One that stands out in all comparisons and also is highly original. On this album, Septic Flesh has managed to blend and to make all their highly unique styles up through the years perfect. We get the dreamy vibe, the brutal sections, the classical interludes and elements in the music, slight electronic touches and of course one of the strongest Death Metal vocals out there.
This album defies genres, but if I were to label it, it would be very dark, epic, brutal and operatic Death Metal.
From the operatic intro, we move on to the brutal track Unbeliver, and then comes probably my favorite track Virtues Of The Beast, a truly dark journey, like a mysterious dream. Then comes the faster track Faust, which starts with some truly eerie operatic voices, while the catchy song develops further. The rest of the songs are outstanding as well, not one filler among them. Too bad this was Septic Flesh`s last epos. The world is a sad place without them. They surely called it quits while at their peak.
Update: In 2007 Septic Flesh reformed officially, a new album will be released in 2008!
Written by Morten
Septicemia - Sabbath Conventions
Septicemia was a Death Metal band in the early 90īs. After a sampler contribution (Decapitated Compilation EP 1990) and a demo (Natorum De Mondo), the band released itīs first professional work called Sabbath Conventions in 1992 via the Greek underground label Black Power Records (BPR 003). There are no other releases from this band, which disbanded at last, but still until these days I meet people from Europe who know and remember Septicemia, primarily Sabbath Conventions! Itīs unclear if this release is an EP or an LP. Judging the appearance (itīs a 12" LP) , the content (six songs with a total duration of over 30 minutes) and the matter of fact, that this is the only professional output of the band, I treat Sabbath Conventions as an album. It deserves nothing less. The album features six songs of thrashing Death Metal with a slight technical approach. After I listened to it, I understood why this album is not forgotten. All six songs are timeless classics of early Death Metal! The bandīs songwriting is diverse, they donīt play just the same riffs all the time again and again, there are often changes in the song structures. They wrote songs, which are even seven minutes long, and the music doesnīt get boring at all. My personal highlight is Blasphemy Of The Unblessed, with its frantic guitars and the amazing drum beats. But all songs are more or less on the same quality level. Like many other Greek bands, Septicemia split up after their greatest release. Kostas, the drummer and vocalist, joined Nightfall, and Thanos, the bassist, joined Horrified. With these two great bands they explored new paths of extreme music.
Written by Skariotis
Shadows Dance - A Quatrain For The Damned
This is the debut album of Shadows Dance. It was released in 2003 through the Dutch Ebony Tears Records (Cold Blood Industries). Itīs difficult to name the musical style of Shadows Dance. It is some kind of symphonical Gothic Metal with a touch of Death/Black Metal. The band put many elements into its sound, predominant keyboards, powerful guitar riffs, violins, female, operatic vocals, choirs and some growls and shrieks from guest musicians. Some songs are harder, some more mainstream, but every song has the same feeling, the album sounds very tight. The songs are well arranged, despite the many different influences. Guest musicians are Kinthia (ex-Astarte), Lethe (Order Of The Ebon Hand) and many more, mainly guest vocalists. One song of the album is on the famous Greece Attacks: The Next Assault sampler. Itīs the most aggressive (and maybe the best) song on the album, itīs the song Until The Young Whore Sings. But generally, the whole material is on a high level, but I do not think that the band reached already the zenith. At the end of the album the band starts repeating itself. There is still room for improvement and better songwriting. Letīs see what will happen.
Written by Skariotis
Shores Of Sheol - Monumentum
This is not a Greek band, but an one-man band from Austria. Thus, this review is an exception and the only reason is the musical direction, which is very much influenced from the Hellenic Black Metal of the early 1990īs. The only band member is Sathur and Monumentum is the debut album of Shores Of Sheol. It should be released from Norwegian Label Warwolf Productions but things are on hold now. The songs of Monumentum remind all old Rotting Christ (Thy Mighty Contract) and Varathron (His Majesty At The Swamps). These two bands are probably the main influences, but Shores Of Sheol is not just a copy of these bands, īcause there are also some individual elements in their sound. The riffing of songs like The Forgotten Kingdom or Firebringer are deeply rooted in the Varathron sound, but Shores Of Sheol are playing even slower than Varathron. Songs like Mystic Visions or Trails Of The Morbid remind Rotting Christ, but they are much rawer than Rotting Christīs early stuff. The Avernus Passage is a pure Doom Death Metal song. The fastest song is the title track, but even this is just mid-tempo. Best track is maybe Under Thy Mighty Wings, which is also the most diverse on the album with some calmer acoustic parts. There is sometimes the use of the keyboard, but not very dominant. The last song is a cover from the Rotting Christ song Fgmenth, Thy Gift, of course this fits perfectly to the other songs. The voice of Sathur fits to the music, he sounds like a mix of Varathronīs Necroabyssious and Necromantiaīs The Magus. The vocals are not the problem, but the drums. Sathur didnīt use a session drummer and this is the big handicap of this album. The sound is artificial, the rhythm is primitive and almost the same on every song. Itīs sad, a real drummer would have pushed the songs and make them even better. But now, the whole album sounds like a slow stream of lava, īcause the music is slow and the drum computer does not contribute well. Nevertheless, Monumentum is an interesting album for fans of the early Hellenic Black Metal sound, or for fans of slow Death/Black or Doom Metal generally. Contact the band if youīre interested: shoresofsheol@gmx.net
Written by Skariotis
Soulskinner - Breeding The Grotesque
Soulskinner was formerly known as Terra Tenebrae. Under this name the band released 1999 an album via Black Lotus Records, called Subconscious. After that they changed their name to Soulskinner, I donīt know why, īcause the members are all the same. Makis (Baron Blood) from Necromantia plays the bass, Bill from Vanity plays all guitars and Gothmog (ex-Thou Art Lord) contributes vocals. The only change is the label, Breeding The Grotesque was released by Sleaszy Rider Records in 2003. Musically, this album is much stronger than the previous one. The music is much faster and more violent. Traditional, furious Death Metal mixed with the old Hellenic spirit of the early 90īs. Imagine Thou Art Lord without the Black Metal parts. The band explodes with songs like Feeding On Angels, The Call Of Daemons, Rule By The Bullet, Nocturnal Supremacy (with guest vocals by Sakis/Rotting Christ; what a killer guitar riff!), or Wolverine Devourment. The songs at the end canīt compete to the quality of the first songs, but generally, this is a strong album, which I didnīt expect, īcause Subconscious has only few good songs! I recommend this album to every fan of traditional, and also every fan of Greek Death Metal.
Written by Skariotis
Terra Tenebrae - Subconscious
Terra Tenebrae (Latin: Land Of Tears) is something like an all-star-band, īcause the members of the band are already well-known. Bass player Makis of Necromantia (Baron Blood), guitar player Vasilis of Vanity and vocalist Gothmog, known from the first two Thou Art Lord albums gathered and formed Terra Tenebrae and released their first album Subconscious in 1999 through Black Lotus Records. Subconscious is a pure Death Metal album with a slight melodic approach. Songs are well-arranged and you can hear that there are no amateurs doing the job. The guitar work is very good and sometimes you can even hear the typical Necromantia bass sound! The only weak point are the vocals. Gothmog is not growling or screaming, but sounds very strange, like a sick frog. So the album has two sides, a strong musical and a weak vocal side. Itīs sad, īcause the songs are really good, but itīs so hard to listen to the CD, īcause the vocals are so bad. After that album, Terra Tenebrae changed their name to Soulskinner and released another album called Breeding The Grotesque. On this album Gothmog is luckily growling again like he always did. I donīt know what happened to him as he recorded Subconscious...
Written by Skariotis
The One - Guardians Inhuman
The One is a side-project of Macabre Omen. Macabre Omen became also a one-man band (after moving from Rhodes to London). The guy behind The One and Macabre Omen is The One (formely Evil Dark)! Luckily, the music is not the same as Macabre Omenīs music, īcause there would be no reason for that project. The reasons for The One to form The One were "obscure thoughts and overall hatred towards the current commercial scene". The Oneīs debut album is called Guardians Inhuman and it was released in the year 2004 from Total Holocaust Records (the songs are all written in 1998/1999). The music is pure Black Metal in the vein of old Darkthrone/Burzum. The production is average and anti-commecial!. The misanthropic feeling is present in every song. The album starts with infernal speeds but the music varies, it is not blastbeat all the time. The first song, This Means War, reminds me a bit Nocternity (if the production would be much colder). Between the fast parts, there are always grim, blackish mid-tempo parts. The vocals are sometimes violent screams, raspy voices and sometimes a bit strange, the vocals of Undying remind me the title track of the cult album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. The structure of the songs is often the same, the songs begin with blastbeats, disturbed by slow, grim riffing, then the vocals start. That happens on four from six songs. The last song, I Am The One, is from the beginning slow. The riffing on the whole album is classic, misanthropic Black Metal in its most primitive form. Ambiance is the outro of the album and I must say, that this is one of the best outros I ever listened. The album needs some time, first youīll notice only the weak production. But after some time, the riffs and the attitude of total hatred wonīt leave your head!
Written by Skariotis
Thou Art Lord - Eosforos
After some EPīs, Thou Art Lord released in the year 1994 their debut album Eosforos (= Bringer Of Light/Lucifer). It was released from the Greek Unisound Records. The line-up was Necromayhem (Rotting Christ), Magus Wampyr Daoloth (Necromantia), Gothmog (Mortify) and Lord Daemon (drumcomputer?).
Their aim was to play infernal, brutal Black Metal, while the direction of their main bands turned to a slower, more sophisticated way. There was always a strong element of Death Metal in the bandīs sound, making the music heavier. Unfortunately, the concentration on the brutality caused a lack on the songwriting. There are no really amazing, strong songs on Eosforos, only a few good tracks, like the opener For The Lust Of Lilith, with guest vocals by Gunther Theys from Ancient Rites, A Call To Chaos (Kaos-Keravnos-Kybernetos), with guest vocals by Mikka Luttinen from Impaled Nazarene, itīs maybe the highlight of the album. Then Through The Eye Of The Hierophant and The Era Of Satan Rising, which is an older recording and was released on the Diabolou Archaes Legeones EP. Too little quality for such songwriters as Sakis or The Magus. Unisound re-released this album in an unofficial compilation CD together with the Apollyon album, it is called like the first EP, Diabolou Archaes Legeones. Is it so difficult to take something new as title (did this fake release need a new title, the albums already have their titles...)?
Their aim was to play infernal, brutal Black Metal, while the direction of their main bands turned to a slower, more sophisticated way. There was always a strong element of Death Metal in the bandīs sound, making the music heavier. Unfortunately, the concentration on the brutality caused a lack on the songwriting. There are no really amazing, strong songs on Eosforos, only a few good tracks, like the opener For The Lust Of Lilith, with guest vocals by Gunther Theys from Ancient Rites, A Call To Chaos (Kaos-Keravnos-Kybernetos), with guest vocals by Mikka Luttinen from Impaled Nazarene, itīs maybe the highlight of the album. Then Through The Eye Of The Hierophant and The Era Of Satan Rising, which is an older recording and was released on the Diabolou Archaes Legeones EP. Too little quality for such songwriters as Sakis or The Magus. Unisound re-released this album in an unofficial compilation CD together with the Apollyon album, it is called like the first EP, Diabolou Archaes Legeones. Is it so difficult to take something new as title (did this fake release need a new title, the albums already have their titles...)?
Written by Skariotis
Thou Art Lord - Apollyon
Just one year after their debut Eosforos, the band released Apollyon in 1995 trough Unisound Records. The line-up is the same, the music (Hellenic Black Metal meets Death Metal) is the same, but something happened, īcause Apollyon is a much better work than the mediocre Eosforos! This is already noticeable from the first track, Hate Is Thicker Than Love. Very fast and evil, after the nice intro it starts immediatly kicking asses. Prelude To Apocalypse is despite the velocity, a great rocker. And the amazing music continues on Wardance Of The Empress. The orchestral interlude called He Whom The Gods Hath Feared, brings some calamity, but the brilliant Societas Satanas makes the head banging again like a maniac! What a great song! The superb Moonscar would close this album perfectly, but the band (or the label?) put the average In Blood We Trust from the split EP with Ancient Rites as last song. Here you can see, what an increase the band had in the past years regarding the songwriting! This album would be almost perfect without the last old song, but nevertheless it is the first strong release of Thou Art Lord! There is an unofficial re-release of that album, check the Eosforos review for more information.
Written by Skariotis
Thou Art Lord - DV8
Seven long years after Apollyon, the band gathered again and released in 2002 another masterpiece of sinister Black/Death Metal. The new album is called DV8 (Deviate) and it was released from Black Lotus Records. Vocalist Gothmog is not anymore involved, so Spiros (Set<H> from Septic Flesh) joined the band for the recordings of DV8. Great choice, Spiros dark voice is one of the strongest in Death Metal. The vocal work is shared by all three members plus some guest singers: Gore (Horrified), John and Makis (Negative Creeps) and Merkaal (Order Of The Ebon Hand, Nocternity). Also new in the project is the drummer Akis K. (Lethe from Order Of The Ebon Hand, Septic Flesh...). Additional keyboards were arranged by Iraklis (Swan Christy). Sounds like a big party of the Hellenic extreme metal scene and it is no surprise that DV8 is one of its best albums!
The music is an incredible mix of many metal influences, it is difficult to find a description. Death meets Black meets New meets Thrash meets Heavy meets Hellenic Metal. In every song another one is screaming, shouting, growling, sometimes all three together and sometimes all together with the guest vocalists. The speed is mainly very fast, just few parts are slow and grooving and reminds Rotting Christ. There is absolutely no weak note on that album, one highlight changes another, I canīt even pick up a single highlight. There are so many different elements on DV8, forged to a hell of an album. A vicious joy for every fan of extreme music!
The music is an incredible mix of many metal influences, it is difficult to find a description. Death meets Black meets New meets Thrash meets Heavy meets Hellenic Metal. In every song another one is screaming, shouting, growling, sometimes all three together and sometimes all together with the guest vocalists. The speed is mainly very fast, just few parts are slow and grooving and reminds Rotting Christ. There is absolutely no weak note on that album, one highlight changes another, I canīt even pick up a single highlight. There are so many different elements on DV8, forged to a hell of an album. A vicious joy for every fan of extreme music!
Written by Skariotis
Thou Art Lord - Orgia Daemonicum
Three years after their, till then, best album DV8, Thou Art Lord released in 2005 through Black Lotus Records their new effort, called Orgia Daemonicum. It has many differences than DV8. The core members, Sakis and The Magus (Set<H> and Akis K. are not anymore involved), decided to make an album, which will live up the old spirit, of bands like Bathory, Venom, Celtic Frost... So the songwriting is much rawer and more primitive than on DV8. And so is the sound. The guitar sound is very dry and the drum sound is fairly raw. This is not an up-to-date-production, but it is also not so disastrous, as many wrote. The drums are played by Themis of Rotting Christ. The vocals are from Sakis, The Magus and three guest singers, Linos from Ravencult and Jon and Makis from Negative Creeps.
The album begins with Possessed/The Legion, thrashing on a great riff and dominating the song. It is only disturbed by a traditional Thou Art Lord blastbeat part. Hecate Unveiled is a bit faster, a very primitive Death/Thrash Metal song. There are some melodies integrated in the songs, which are typical Thou Art Lord/Rotting Christ. An Apparition Of Vengeance has a better Black Metal feeling, īcause Linos is screaming here and it features a typical blastbeat part. He The Great Worm has a slow Slayer-like riff and a nice refrain, typical Sakis, Iīd say. The Gnostic Code reminds a bit the riff of Serve In Heaven, from the last Rotting Christ album, but of course this song is much more traditional Thrash Metal. The Royal Invocation Of Apophis starts hectically, but the songwriting turns cleverly into a great, slow hymn of darkness, at the end there is a choir, like we used to know from the last Rotting Christ or Septic Flesh albums. The title track is pure Death Metal, the voice of Set<H> would have fit perfectly! Necromantic features a cool riff! Satanic Aphorisms is the most modern song on the album, it could also be on DV8. The riff and the blastbeat part with Linos on vocals kick seriously ass. Last song is a cover-version of an Onslaught song, called Power From Hell. I know the original version, I like Thou Art Lordīs version more!
Orgia Daemonicum is a great album, but it differs a lot from DV8. And the reason is, that the band members made themselves strict borders on the songwriting. They put no borders as they did DV8, so it has a lot more variety and aggression than the new album. The new one should sound primitive and old-school and it sounds very primitive, but not really old-school. Many expected, that the band start to write songs like early Morbid Angel, Bathory, Possessed and Venom, BUT Orgia Daemonicum is still a Thou Art Lord album! The bands that were mentioned above are just guideposts, so that the vision of the album is easier understandable: to make an album, like they would have made it in the 80īs, NOT to copy someone else from the 80īs. I think, Thou Art Lord reached the goal very well!
The album begins with Possessed/The Legion, thrashing on a great riff and dominating the song. It is only disturbed by a traditional Thou Art Lord blastbeat part. Hecate Unveiled is a bit faster, a very primitive Death/Thrash Metal song. There are some melodies integrated in the songs, which are typical Thou Art Lord/Rotting Christ. An Apparition Of Vengeance has a better Black Metal feeling, īcause Linos is screaming here and it features a typical blastbeat part. He The Great Worm has a slow Slayer-like riff and a nice refrain, typical Sakis, Iīd say. The Gnostic Code reminds a bit the riff of Serve In Heaven, from the last Rotting Christ album, but of course this song is much more traditional Thrash Metal. The Royal Invocation Of Apophis starts hectically, but the songwriting turns cleverly into a great, slow hymn of darkness, at the end there is a choir, like we used to know from the last Rotting Christ or Septic Flesh albums. The title track is pure Death Metal, the voice of Set<H> would have fit perfectly! Necromantic features a cool riff! Satanic Aphorisms is the most modern song on the album, it could also be on DV8. The riff and the blastbeat part with Linos on vocals kick seriously ass. Last song is a cover-version of an Onslaught song, called Power From Hell. I know the original version, I like Thou Art Lordīs version more!
Orgia Daemonicum is a great album, but it differs a lot from DV8. And the reason is, that the band members made themselves strict borders on the songwriting. They put no borders as they did DV8, so it has a lot more variety and aggression than the new album. The new one should sound primitive and old-school and it sounds very primitive, but not really old-school. Many expected, that the band start to write songs like early Morbid Angel, Bathory, Possessed and Venom, BUT Orgia Daemonicum is still a Thou Art Lord album! The bands that were mentioned above are just guideposts, so that the vision of the album is easier understandable: to make an album, like they would have made it in the 80īs, NOT to copy someone else from the 80īs. I think, Thou Art Lord reached the goal very well!
Written by Skariotis
Transcending Bizarre? - The Four Scissors
Can you imagine to mix the music of Dimmu Borgir, Septic Flesh, Children Of Bodom and The Kovenant? Sounds pretty bizarre? Yeah, Transcending Bizarre?! The Four Scissors is the debut album of this young and talented band. It was released in 2003 from Greek Sleaszy Rider Records. It seems that after the split-up of Septic Flesh they can fill the gap of symphonic Death/Black Metal in Greece, without being a clone. I never listened to a debut album which is so well-arranged in variety and songwriting. Do you want high-speed Black Metal? Do you want operatic female vocals? Do you want amazing Heavy Metal guitar solos? Do you want a shitload full of electronic samples and symphonic keyboards? Do you want it all combined with heavy riffing and good sound? Then get The Four Scissors! The path they have chosen was very risky. Many bands tried to combine so many different elements, but failed, because the variety killed the songwriting. I am still wondering that this seems to be absolutely no problem for Transcending Bizarre?, despite the short duration of the songs, which are about three and four minutes long. In this four minutes they serve you all the elements I mentioned above. In contrary, the songs could all be longer, without getting boring, īcause there are parts you want to listen over and over again. Songs like Dessicated, A New Saturn, The Four Scissors, the metal hymn Coils (0,618...), Diaphragm Closed % (one-and-a-half-minute for such a song, they could easily made a five-minute-song, it would kick ass too), x xx X (nice title...) and Wolves May Safely Graze are truly songs, every so-called big melodic Black/Death Metal band wishes to own. Only disappointment: the photos in the booklet. But The Four Scissors will soon be re-released by the Dutch label Vic Records, with new artwork, a bonus-song and hopefully new photos! The band is recording the second album right now. So watch out for the second blow!
Written by Skariotis
Twilight - ...And With The Twilight, They Return.
Twilight released some demos in the early 90īs and had some kind of underground status in the Hellenic extreme scene. This is their first album, released after six years of silence in the year 2000 by In Vision Music. I knew some of their demos of the past and so I was surprised as I listened the first time to their debut. Remembering Twilight as an uncompromising and raw Black Metal band, I wondered if I put the right CD in my player. The music is barely Black Metal, a much more melodic form of it, with predominant keyboard melodies, dominating the whole songwriting of the album (sounding almost the same in every song). All the raw and brutal parts of the past are gone, instead you have to face a flawless Gothic Metal album with some faster parts here and there. Vocalist Hades Of Absu is still a good Black Metal singer, but he has accomodated his voice to the new direction of the songs, his shrieks are now higher, reminding Ihsan of Emperor. The keys add a nice atmosphere, hence the album lacks of a violent feeling, itīs pretty tame. The typical Hellenic Black Metal parts are gone, together with the missing acrimony. Even if there are some good parts (as in Marching For The Frozen Shadow Side), the weak mix (keyboard sound is good, all other instruments are poor, especially the guitars have no power) destroys every effort to make a good song. Generally, the album sounds like if Emperor and Cradle Of Filth would have a bad day and running out of musical ideas. Big disappointment.
Written by Skariotis
Unholy Archangel - The Demos
Unholy Archangel released three demos in the past, which belong to the most amateurish and unprofessional releases coming out of Greece. I donīt know how deaf must be the guy of ISO666 Releases, to spend money for a CD compilation like this, which includes these demos. There are 18 tracks of unpolished, senseless, bad-played Black Metal on the CD (check detailed reviews on our demo page). The songwriting simply makes you to run away. Every garage-punk band has more sense for songwriting than these guys here. If thatīs not bad enough, the band tries also to mix this crap with the great heritage of the Greek ancestors. But ancient Greeks were not Black Metal punks at all. Good that they are dead since 2000 years, they would be ashamed of such childish behaviour of their so-called descendants. Zeus would cry like a baby if heīd ever listen to them. If theyīll put the same emphasis on songwriting as on their ridiculous fuck-off list in the CD booklet, then maybe they will be able to write music one day.
Written by Skariotis
Uranus - Doctrine Of Immortality
This is the second album of Uranus. It came out in 2003 by Greek label Sleaszy Rider Records. The band was a pagan Black Metal band in the late 90īs, but not much of these elements are on Doctrine Of Immortality. The band has now a much wider range of lyrics, not only the ancient Greek years. Musically, they preserved the sound of the Hellenic Black Metal scene, which is quite not usual. But Doctrine Of Immortality is a double edged thing: on the one hand the band plays typical Hellenic Black Metal riffs and almost every song has at least one strong part. On the other hand, the whole songwriting is confused, īcause the band adds so much different elements into their songs. So most songs are lacking of a structure which make them recognisable. There are too many riff and speed changes in the songs and every 20 seconds there is another break, a new riff, a new keyboard melody and so on. Strong riffing is destroyed immediately after few seconds by meaningless blastbeat parts and an all-dominant keyboard sound. The vocals last on many songs from the start to the end, leaving no space for atmosphere. Some will call this album progressive, I call it unstructured. The duration is over 67 minutes long! Buried under these more or less useless parts, there is a good album, which sadfully will never see the light of day. There is also a cover version (and a video-clip) of the 60īs song Fire from Arthur Brown on the album. Itīs a good cover-version, but it donīt fit to the rest of the albumīs material. My highlight is the opening song and title track Doctrine Of Immortality. This song is good Hellenic Black Metal!
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - His Majesty At The Swamp Rerelease
For detailed musical review, please read the article in the Typical Hellenic Black Metal Sound section. This review refers to the rerelease of Polish label Pagan Records.
Due to the sad fact, that this Hellenic Black Metal classic was not supported satisfyingly by the original label Cyber Records (which shut its doors some time after the release), Polish label Pagan Records got the rights for His Majesty At The Swamp and rereleased it eight years after its original release date in 2001. It was released unremastered as CD, MC and limited picture LP (300 copies) with one bonus track: the new song The Grim Palace, which later was re-recorded for the Crownsreign album. Sadly, the original cover was not used again, they took a new one, which is much darker (much too dark if you ask me). So Pagan Records did a satisfying job (for such a small label), spreading this masterpiece and making it easier for purchase!
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - Walpurgisnacht
Two years after their fantastic debut, Varathron released their second album in 1995, through the Greek Unisound label. Guitar player Necroslaughter (Vorskaath) moved to Australia and is continuing with Zemial/Agatus and Mutilator concentrated on Rotting Christ. The new members who gathered with vocalist Necroabyssious were Pyrphoros (guitars, bass) and Adrastos (keyboards). Luckily Varathron remained Varathron, albeit the line-up changes. The record was produced by Magus Wampyr Daoloth of Necromantia.
Walpurgisnacht (German word which means the gathering of witches one night in a year) is the logical continuation of His Majesty At The Swamp. There is still the typical Varathron guitar sound, but in contrary to the first album, this one has more faster, but also more calmer elements. After Tleilaxu (The Unborn Child), there is absolutely no doubt, which band performs this song. Cassiopeiaīs Ode would perfectly fit on the debut album. The Dark Hills is a nice, calmer song, its lyrics are taken by a homonymous poem from E.A. Robinson. Mestigoth has some very calm, atmospheric parts, but the song is a bit unspectacular. Birthrise Of The Graven Image brings back the aggression and the speed, it reminds early Thou Art Lord and is the most aggressive song on that album. Redeunt Saturnia Regna (Latin for Back To The Golden Age) is a melodic keyboard interlude. Under The Sight Of Horus begins with oriental sounding guitars and continues in typical Varathron manner. Somewhere Beyond Seas has a heavy melancholic riff and a wonderful solo, reminding Septic Flesh. And actually, Sotiris from Septic Flesh is playing that solo (on Birthrise Of The Graven Image he plays a solo too)! The last song is an acoustic guitar outro called Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Latin for Thusly Decays The Glory Of The World).
Walpurgisnacht (German word which means the gathering of witches one night in a year) is the logical continuation of His Majesty At The Swamp. There is still the typical Varathron guitar sound, but in contrary to the first album, this one has more faster, but also more calmer elements. After Tleilaxu (The Unborn Child), there is absolutely no doubt, which band performs this song. Cassiopeiaīs Ode would perfectly fit on the debut album. The Dark Hills is a nice, calmer song, its lyrics are taken by a homonymous poem from E.A. Robinson. Mestigoth has some very calm, atmospheric parts, but the song is a bit unspectacular. Birthrise Of The Graven Image brings back the aggression and the speed, it reminds early Thou Art Lord and is the most aggressive song on that album. Redeunt Saturnia Regna (Latin for Back To The Golden Age) is a melodic keyboard interlude. Under The Sight Of Horus begins with oriental sounding guitars and continues in typical Varathron manner. Somewhere Beyond Seas has a heavy melancholic riff and a wonderful solo, reminding Septic Flesh. And actually, Sotiris from Septic Flesh is playing that solo (on Birthrise Of The Graven Image he plays a solo too)! The last song is an acoustic guitar outro called Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (Latin for Thusly Decays The Glory Of The World).
Walpurgisnacht reaches almost the glory of His Majesty At The Swamp, having more atmospheric and more faster parts as the debut. But the riffing is not so strong anymore, īcause the line-up was not the same. Despite of the changes, some songs are arranged too unspectacular, a slight decline of the songwriting is noticeable. Nevertheless, Walpurgisnacht remains a good album!
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire
Cursed Productions, an American label, got in the year 1997 the rights from Necroabyssious to re-release the old and now legendary demo stuff as a best-of compilation CD. The CD, which curiously has the same title as the Varathron demo from the year 1991, contains ten songs. The tracks Necranastasis and Dawn Of Sordid Decay are from the first demo Procreation Of The Unaltered Evil from the year 1989. The songs La Reine Noir, Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire, The Tressrising Of Nyarlathotep, Seven Endless Horizones and Journey Beyond are from their second demo Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire, released originally in 1991. Both demos are great releases, please check the detailed reviews of them in our demo section.
On this review I want to refer to three songs, which are released from the band for the first time on this compilation. The first song is The Great Seal Of Graal. It was recorded in 1989, but did not appear on the first demo. Why, I canīt say, what I can say is, this song completes the two other songs on Procreation Of The Unaltered Evil demo. Contrary to the two faster songs, The Great Seal Of Graal features almost every trademark that will made the band famous in the future, īcause it is based solely on slow and heavy riffing, marking the bandīs future sound. The second unreleased track is The Mystic Papyrus. It originates from the year 1993 and features Sakis from Rotting Christ on the guitar! Itīs in the vein of their debut album His Majesty At The Swamp, so expect again slow killer riffs and Necroabyssious is screaming more brutal than ever on this song, reminding his vocals as a member of Kawir on their first split EP. The only bad thing is the drum sound, you can clearly hear that this is just a drum machine and not a real drummer. Nevertheless, a great song as well! The third unreleased track is called Deep Beneath An Ancient Dominion and itīs in the strict sense not previously unreleased. Itīs from the Walpurgisnacht recording session and was released at first on a compilation CD of the Greek Metal Hammer in the summer of 1996, called Hammer Holocaust II. On the compilation it is called Deep Beneath The Ancient Communion (is it a typing error?). Personally it was my first contact with Varathronīs music at that time and I can say, this song is to this day one of my favourite Varathron songs! The riffs are GODLIKE!
As the CD compilation sold out, Cursed Productions released in the year 2004 a new version including two bonus songs. The tracks are from the One Step Beyond Dreams EP from the year 1991, Descent Of A Prophetic Vision and Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire. So with the second edition of this best-of CD you will get the complete work of Varathronīs pre-His Majesty At The Swamps-time! This is surely value for your hard-earned money (if you do not have already another Varathron compilation such as the 1989/1991 LP compilation. There you will find some live tracks, but not the unreleased stuff from here!). What I donīt understand is, why are all these re-releases not remixed or remastered, not even the 2004 edition? Iīm sure that the demo-sound can be enhanced by professional remastering! If you already have Varathronīs early stuff, buy this CD just for the three unreleased songs, they are worth its price!
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - The Lament Of Gods
After four long years without any sign of life, Varathron released a mini-album called The Lament Of Gods. The line-up had changed again. New line-up is: Stefan Necroabyssious on vocals, Spyros (Hungry Wolfen) on drums, Kon (Violent Warrior, formerly Pyrphoros) on guitars and bass and new keyboard player Bill (Crazy Wizard). There are four new songs and one Mercyful Fate cover on The Lament Of Gods. It was released in 1999 from the Polish label Pagan Records as CD and Picture LP.
I donīt know, but after four years the fans demanded surely more than just four new tracks. Also, Varathronīs music is not anymore the same. It got a lot more melodical. The keyboards are in the forefront and not the heavy guitar riffs, as we were familiar in the past. The only usual are the deep vocals of Necroabyssious. Without him, the music wouldnīt be recognisable as Varathron. That happens, when the songwriters of a band leave and the lyrics remains from the original line-up. The new guys have a totally other approach to Varathronīs music. Iīm not a fan of stagnating music, changes are necessary, but the four new songs are just nice and average, a real good song is missing on that release. The same with the Mercyful Fate cover, Nuns Have No Fun. It is OK, but too much keyboards are used. This song also appears on a Mercyful Fate tribute CD. At least a sign of life from Varathron, it is better than no sign of life.
I donīt know, but after four years the fans demanded surely more than just four new tracks. Also, Varathronīs music is not anymore the same. It got a lot more melodical. The keyboards are in the forefront and not the heavy guitar riffs, as we were familiar in the past. The only usual are the deep vocals of Necroabyssious. Without him, the music wouldnīt be recognisable as Varathron. That happens, when the songwriters of a band leave and the lyrics remains from the original line-up. The new guys have a totally other approach to Varathronīs music. Iīm not a fan of stagnating music, changes are necessary, but the four new songs are just nice and average, a real good song is missing on that release. The same with the Mercyful Fate cover, Nuns Have No Fun. It is OK, but too much keyboards are used. This song also appears on a Mercyful Fate tribute CD. At least a sign of life from Varathron, it is better than no sign of life.
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - 1989/1991
This is not a new Varathron album, but a compilation in vinyl format of the old demos and EPīs, that were released before the first album. It was released in the year 2004 from French Ordealis Records and it is limited to 525 copies (525, a new satanic code?). The demos and EPīs are: Procreation Of The Unaltered Evil, from 1989, Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire, from 1991, One Step Beyond Dreams, from 1991, and three songs from a rare live recording from 1991 (a part of the MC Live At The Swamp). You can find all the reviews separately here in www.hellenicmetal.tk . For somebody who donīt know the old stuff, this compilation is a good introduction to the world of Varathron. It is not easy (and sometimes not cheap) to find the original stuff. So it is OK, when there are some compilations with the old material (there is also one CD from 1997/2004 called Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire). But these compilations must fulfil standards, that are equal to the bandīs fame. And thereīs one big mistake on 1989/1991 that shows, that this release is done so amateurish, to make some easy money, that is really a shame:
As I listened to the first song of the Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire demo (the third song on that compilation), La Reine Noir, I noticed some anomalies on the song. The song "jumped" suddenly to a different part of the song. This happened two times. First I thought there are scratches on the vinyl and I thought OK, no big deal, that happens. But then I noticed, that the vinyl is all right, and that these scratches are from the source of the recording (that means that all 525 copies must have this failure). This source is NOT the original demo tape, but a defective CD. So they not only didnīt record the demo from the original source (which has to be remastered.thatīs work.and that costs.) but from a CD (maybe the compilation CD from 1997?) and this CD is defective! How can somebody release a compilation with such failures? Everybody can hear this, why Ordealis Records didnīt find another copy of that song as source? Are they deaf or just NUTS? I hope that Necroabyssious went as mad as I, when he first listened to that amateur crap!
As I listened to the first song of the Genesis Of Apocryphal Desire demo (the third song on that compilation), La Reine Noir, I noticed some anomalies on the song. The song "jumped" suddenly to a different part of the song. This happened two times. First I thought there are scratches on the vinyl and I thought OK, no big deal, that happens. But then I noticed, that the vinyl is all right, and that these scratches are from the source of the recording (that means that all 525 copies must have this failure). This source is NOT the original demo tape, but a defective CD. So they not only didnīt record the demo from the original source (which has to be remastered.thatīs work.and that costs.) but from a CD (maybe the compilation CD from 1997?) and this CD is defective! How can somebody release a compilation with such failures? Everybody can hear this, why Ordealis Records didnīt find another copy of that song as source? Are they deaf or just NUTS? I hope that Necroabyssious went as mad as I, when he first listened to that amateur crap!
Written by Skariotis
Varathron - Crowsreign
The last full-length album of Varathron was Walpurgisnacht. Since then, nine years had passed. The new album is called Crownsreign and it was released in 2004 from Greek label Black Lotus Records. The last sign of life was The Lament Of Gods, an average release. The band has a new line-up again, the old members are, of course Stefan Necroabyssious on vocals and Bill on keyboards, and the new members are Achilleas on guitars and bass and Haris on drums. I was a bit afraid, would Varathron destroy their own status, or would they return to old glory? To find an answer, I had to wait and to listen to the album many times.
First of all, this is not Varathron as we know them on His Majesty At The Swamps. But luckily this is not Varathron as we know them on The Lament Of Gods. The music got very variable and melodic, with many tempo changes. And this time, the songwriting is the strongest since His Majesty At The Swamps. The album starts with a nice acoustic intro called Evil Gets An Upgrade. There Is No God is a fine mix between Iron Maiden-like melodies and very fast and brutal parts. The Grim Palace was first released as a bonus song on the re-release of the His Majesty At The Swamps album. This is a new recording of this song. Darkness Falling is a calm acoustic interlude. Creation Of Satan starts calmly too, but then it turns many times, including an oriental sounding part and a violin solo, making it a really great song. The Sign Of Eternal Curse has a slow riff and nice keyboard melody. A Vision Of A Nameless Soul starts with (ancient) battle noise and features a cool guitar melody and a grim riff, almost reminding the old days. Emersing From The Immortals is a calm instrumental played on the piano. The King Of Asine is the most epic song, Varathron has ever written. Its duration is longer than twelve minutes. It contains calm parts, blastbeats, slow metal riffs, violin melodies, guitar solos and whispering voices. The lyrics were taken from a homonymous poem by Greek poet Odysseas Elytis, the Nobel prize winner in literature of 1979. Necroabyssious also uses his clean voice (of course with a Greek accent!). After that giant piece of metal, we need a break, to relax a little bit, as Spirit Of The Tomb, a majestic instrumental, is refreshing our mind. The last song, Angel Of Revenge, needs full attention again! Great Heavy Metal song, which turns to a fast neckbreaker.
This album is maybe the biggest surprise in a long time! My fears, that this would be a disaster disappeared, īcause Varathron made great progress! Their songs are full of melodies, riffs, tempo changes, everything good that the metal scene has to offer is somehow represented. Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal... The diversity was the reason I needed so much time to discover the superiority of this album. Only the voice of Necroabbysious had no progress. Sometimes his deep voice does not fit perfectly to some melodic parts, maybe he should use some high screams from time to time, to make the vocals more variable. The sound is the best the band ever had, but a little bit more power for the bass and the guitar would have been better, īcause the drums are too loud. What a strong return!
First of all, this is not Varathron as we know them on His Majesty At The Swamps. But luckily this is not Varathron as we know them on The Lament Of Gods. The music got very variable and melodic, with many tempo changes. And this time, the songwriting is the strongest since His Majesty At The Swamps. The album starts with a nice acoustic intro called Evil Gets An Upgrade. There Is No God is a fine mix between Iron Maiden-like melodies and very fast and brutal parts. The Grim Palace was first released as a bonus song on the re-release of the His Majesty At The Swamps album. This is a new recording of this song. Darkness Falling is a calm acoustic interlude. Creation Of Satan starts calmly too, but then it turns many times, including an oriental sounding part and a violin solo, making it a really great song. The Sign Of Eternal Curse has a slow riff and nice keyboard melody. A Vision Of A Nameless Soul starts with (ancient) battle noise and features a cool guitar melody and a grim riff, almost reminding the old days. Emersing From The Immortals is a calm instrumental played on the piano. The King Of Asine is the most epic song, Varathron has ever written. Its duration is longer than twelve minutes. It contains calm parts, blastbeats, slow metal riffs, violin melodies, guitar solos and whispering voices. The lyrics were taken from a homonymous poem by Greek poet Odysseas Elytis, the Nobel prize winner in literature of 1979. Necroabyssious also uses his clean voice (of course with a Greek accent!). After that giant piece of metal, we need a break, to relax a little bit, as Spirit Of The Tomb, a majestic instrumental, is refreshing our mind. The last song, Angel Of Revenge, needs full attention again! Great Heavy Metal song, which turns to a fast neckbreaker.
This album is maybe the biggest surprise in a long time! My fears, that this would be a disaster disappeared, īcause Varathron made great progress! Their songs are full of melodies, riffs, tempo changes, everything good that the metal scene has to offer is somehow represented. Black Metal, Heavy Metal, Power Metal... The diversity was the reason I needed so much time to discover the superiority of this album. Only the voice of Necroabbysious had no progress. Sometimes his deep voice does not fit perfectly to some melodic parts, maybe he should use some high screams from time to time, to make the vocals more variable. The sound is the best the band ever had, but a little bit more power for the bass and the guitar would have been better, īcause the drums are too loud. What a strong return!
Written by Skariotis
Vomit Church - Offers To The Sado-God
Necrotormentor of Enshadowed seems to be a busy man. Heīs involved in many bands of the Hellenic underground Black Metal scene (Enshadowed, Burial Hordes, Merciless Crucifixion, to name few). He and drummer Impaler (who is also involved in many bands) are part of Vomit Church too. So Necrotormentor must be the musician who has the most bands simultaneously in Greece right now.
Offers To The Sado-God was released in 2006 from German label Eclipse Of Live Promulgation and Mexical label Atolinga Records. As you might recognise from the bandīs name, Vomit Church is a blasphemous Black Metal band. Of course, all other bands of Necrotormentor are blasphemous too, so whereīs the difference? The difference is, that Vomit Churchīs music has a brilliant, almost punkish Fuck-Off attitude towards everything. You want symphonic keyboards? Fuck Off! You want nine-minutes-long Black Metal hymns? Fuck Off! You want boring hyper-speed attacks? Fuck Off! What you get are nine songs of classical, grim but catchy Black Metal riffing, hateful screams and anti-christian lyrics. Despite the nine songs, the total duration is only about 25 minutes, so youīll push the play button again, īcause the songs have simply no time to get boring.
Written by Skariotis
Vorphalack - Lullabies Of A Vampire
What happens to bands which fail to write good music and releasing it on regular basis? I know. They are forced to re-release their stuff again and again, until everybody knows that these guys have no future as musicians. These guys are in Vorphalack just one guy, called Lord Alatoth. Vorphalack released one of the best records in Hellenic Black Metal, the Under The Sight Of Dragon EP! The mix of Varathron meets Iron Maiden was just great. Then he split with the other members and continued with new musicians, the music changed much. The following releases are mediocre melodic Black Metal.
Lullabies Of A Vampire is a compilation CD containing these releases and not a regular full-length album with new material. It was released without remastering from Unisound Records (you can still hear the scratches of the vinyl, shame on you!). The CD contains the four songs from the split EP with Zephyrous from the year 1995, two songs from the Black Sorrow For A Dead Brother demo from 1995, one song from a compilation CD of the Greek metal magazine Metal Invader and the two songs of the legendary Under The Sight Of Dragon EP as bonus songs. Two "songs" are new, a track where you can listen to the rain (and nothing more) and a mediocre keyboard outro! Lord Alatoth sounds like a cheap version of Dani Filth, the music is not bad, but unspectacular, the sound is shitty and the only highlight are the two bonus tracks. Thereīs a similarity to another band, where Lord Alatoth was also the singer: Nar Mataron. After the split with his other members (who formed Naer Mataron and became one of Greeceīs most extreme bands) he continued as Nar Mataron, but wasnīt able to release something important. He should give both bands the final peace!
Written by Skariotis
Zemial For The Glory Of UR Rerelease
This review refers to the rerelease of the label Iron Pegasus. For an extensive musical review please read the article in the The Typical Hellenic Black Metal Sound section.
This masterpiece was rereleased as CD and LP from Iron Pegasus Records in 1999 and features some bonus tracks. After the original five songs, which were recorded in 1995, there come two songs which are older and which were already released on the Sleeping Under Tartarus EP in 1993, also an alltime-classic of Hellenic Black Metal. Song six is the title track of the EP, Sleeping Under Tartarus. It differs a little bit from the last songs, the music is more 1990s Black Metal, faster with really aggressive vocals but the epic touch is already there. Same for the next song, The Scourge Of The Kingdom. Both songs are Black Metal hymns, both are written in 1991 and I wonder about how early Zemial played this kind of metal music! Itīs a shame that they are never mentioned, when "normal" fans talk about the second generation of Black Metal. Even in Norway there were only a handful of bands that played this extreme music at that time (but this "handful" are well known in todays metal scene as originators!). The last two bonus songs, Nocturnal Witch and the Bathory cover Armageddon, are later compositions/recordings and they tend to the direction that Zemial plays today: traditional Black/Thrashing Metal. The Bathory cover fits perfectly to their own material! Iron Pegasus did a great job, this rerelease is rightly sold out too!
Zemial - In Monumentum
Three years after the amazing mini LP Face Of The Conqueror, Zemial returned with their second album called In Monumentum. It is released in the year 2006 by the bandīs own label Nyx. Zemial dedicates the whole album to Quorthon of Bathory, who died two years ago. His music was a main influence for Zemial and they thank him for this great inspiration by releasing this album. Musically it is the most epic material by Zemial. The music ranges from the typical Zemialish old-school Black Metal to slow and melancholic Heavy Metal. For the first time there are clean vocals on a Zemial output and the usage of atmospheric keyboards is quite more often than we are used to. The emotion of mourning pervades the whole album, even the booklet is black in its entirety.
In Monumentum starts with For A Fallen One, a slow song with an excellent guitar riff and a melancholic solo. Born Of The Crimson Flame begins with a funeral organ but continues as a fast Thrash/Black Metal song with a furious solo and a great riff at the end. I Tan I Epi Tas (written in Greek) is the third song, its lyrics are refering to the historic battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C., where 300 Spartan warriors gave their lives to protect Greece against the Persians. I Tan I Epi Tas is an old saying and means that a Spartan warrior should return with his shield or on his shield (= dead), but never dare to come back without the shield, this was a great dishonour in those ancient days. This song starts with some mournful sounds and turns out to be a fantastic mid-tempo song as well. Remembering Those Lost is a calm and melancholic interlude in the middle of the album, remember the Agatus albums, there is always such an acoustic piece in the middle. The album goes on with March Of The Giants, another catchy mid-tempo headbanger with an outstanding guitar melody at the end. It has maybe the biggest Bathory influence of all songs. The second fast song is Riddle, it could also be on the Face Of The Conqueror EP as well. Great lyrics, by the way. The seventh and last song is the title track, In Monumentum/Stone Of The Ages. It starts calmly and features clean vocals sung by Vorskaath himself. Not bad for a Black Metal shouter! Itīs the most melancholic song on the album and the most epic composition of Zemial. It has nothing in common with Black or Thrash Metal, this is traditional Heavy Metal in its finest form. Listen to the guitar work and you will understand.
With In Monumentum, Zemial raised indeed a monument for Bathory, but it is also their own monument. Imagine a real monument, Bathory would build the base and without a base nothing can be build. The monument itself is Zemialīs music, Zemialīs interpretation of Bathoryīs music we call Black Metal. Both musicians, Vorskaath and The Dark (Eskarth) play on a high level with the right touch to every little detail. The songwriting is the most multifaceted the band ever had, but it is still Zemial and never a Bathory clone. The only sad thing is the duration, like every great album it ends too early, despite its satisfying duration of over 37 minutes!
Written by Skariotis
Zephyrous - Entrance And Wandering On The Seven Zones
This was the first demo of Zephyrous, released in 1994, but French Impure Creation Records re-released it as a full-length album in 1995, so the first demo became the first album. With its eleven songs it has anyway an album length and the sound is, for Greek circumstances for this time, OK. The music of Zephyrous is not so easy to describe. Itīs clearly Black Metal, but in a way no other band play. They have their very own style to interpret Black Metal and they will continue with it until their last album. The heavy, distorted guitar was never on the forefront in their songs. The basements are always acoustic guitars and the keyboard, which are, together with the bass, mixed very loud. There is often no distorted guitar at all, like in Hidden Away From The Sun. The speed remains almost slow or mid-tempo, fast aggressive parts are just few. The song parts which are normal Black Metal have a good and early Black Metal feeling, influenced by both, the Hellenic and the Norwegian scene. The band photos also show them posing with corpsepaint. The most typical Black Metal factor is vocalist Dreamlord. His screams are very dark and aggressive shrieks in typical manner, but sometimes he overact too much and sounds like a dwarf dying alone in the forest. The songwriting has a strong medieval touch, which is enforced even more by the production. Zephyrous is absolutely nothing for the Black Metal masses, due to the typical eccentric songwriting. This album is comparable to the first Necromantia album! Sadly, a really great song is missing here. I would recommend Entrance And Wandering... to fans of the early 90īs Black Metal scene, when Black Metal bands didnīt have to sound all the same and individuality was still present. Underground fanatics can also invest without fear!
Written by Skariotis
Zephyrous - A Caress Of War And Wisdom
This mini CD is a re-release of the Zephyrous-side of the split EP with Vorphalack from 1995. It was released by French Velvet Music in 1998. There are not only the four songs of the split EP on the CD, but also one bonus song. Zephyrous delivers us its unique Black Metal, in form of great songs like Ichor, The Serpent Race and Entrance And Wandering On The Seven Zones (see the detailed review of the songs on the review of the split EP). The bonus song Dysangelium begins with some strange effects and ends with calm keyboards, itīs more an outro than a song. Many reviewers couldnīt understand Zephyrous musical approach and gave them bad reviews. They probably donīt have the time to get into an unknown band with own musical identity (they prefer clones). Or they simply have no idea about music (I think itīs a mix of both...).
Written by Skariotis
Zephyrous - Towards...
Zephyrous exists since the early 90īs. Towards... is their second album and it was released in 1999 through Greek label In Vision Musik. They play Black Metal, with a Hellenic touch, but with a very unusual approach. Sometimes the music is based solely on symphonic keyboards and drum computer, but the singer is still screaming like a maniac! On other parts, the music is very calm with clean vocals. I would say, the main instrument is the keyboard and the guitar is an add-on. The music is not heavy, but when it gets Black Metal, it reminds the glorious Greek scene of early 90īs. A very unique, but also a very strange imagination of something that was Black Metal in the past. Unusual, but not bad. This album is the last release of Zephyrous and only for fans of progressive, open-minded Black Metal.
Written by Skariotis
Zion - Drakula
Zion is a project which was started by Zion, the vocalist of Crossover, in 1995. Due to other obligations, the project was on hold since now, but Zion returned very strong in 2005. He gathered many known musicians from Greece and Norway and recorded Drakula, a concept album about the true life of Vlad Dracul, called Tepes (the impaler). The musicians are: Zion (Crossover) vocals, Aphazel (Ancient) vocals, Ifigenia (Crossover) female vocals, Polydeykis (Sacred Blood) guitars, Mike G. (Snowblind, ex-Nightfall) guitars, Faethon (Sacred Blood) bass, Nick (Deviser) keyboard, Bob Katsionis (Nightfall, Firewind) keyboard, Zoltan (Crossover) drums.
There are six songs on Drakula. The album starts with the demonical intro Atrocities Of Vlad Tepes. The other five tracks can be described as melodic Hellenic Black Metal, a mix of great Heavy Metal riffs, keyboard melodies, Black Metal voices and good guitar solos. The tempo is mainly mid-tempo, based on good riffs, the keyboard plays a greater part than on other Greek Black Metal bands, itīs not only responsible for the atmosphere, but adds lots of melodies. The vocals of Zion are much blacker than his vocals in Crossover, he has a strong voice, not too high-pitched and not too deep. The additional vocals of Aphazel and Ifigenia are fitting well, but the use of female vocals reminds sometimes too much Cradle Of Filth. The guitars alter from great riffing to amazing melodies. I could write the highlights, but all six tracks are very good and have the same atmosphere. The production is crystal clear and strong, although all songs were recorded in different home studios. The album ends with the haunting The Forest Of The Impaled, which features reversed vocals. Sounds pretty evil! I hope that Zion will find a record label to release this unique album, Iīm wondering that they still havenīt found one. Every fan of melodic Black Metal should have the opportunity to get this CD!
Written by Skariotis
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