Rotting Christ - 35 Years Of Evil Existence: Live In Lycabettus (Season Of Mist)35 Years Of Evil Existence is a celebration of Greece's most recognised extreme metal act. One of three bands who established their own genre of Hellenic Black Metal that stood toe to toe with the Scandinavians.
Over the 35 years they have adapted their sound to become a bands with a both glacial shredfests and muscular anthems, while the rawness of those early albums has gone in their recorded output live they never forget their roots and put these early tracks right alongside the orchestrated modern offerings.
With this Live album you get a chance to go on a 2 hour musical journey with these Bastard Sons Of Athens, live from the historic and iconic Lycabettus Hill Theater which sits across the Athenian skyline from the Acropolis. It's an outdoor theatre and I can only imagine how amazing the Rotting Christ light show and the power of that music would be coming out of the Athenian night.
I'm sure the Orthodox Church had more than just reservations to hosting the band in such a venue but as ever Sakis and his brother Themis will forever be Non Servium so nothing could stop this force of nature.
The album itself is recorded in front of a devoted raucous hometown crowd, the set is packed with old and new songs, paced well so the faster numbers are often followed by the mid paced groovers,Sakis' growls and shouts still as potent as ever as he has the crowd in the palm of his hand, organinsing choirs, clapping and chanting. The production is a little washed out occasionally but this was recorded in an open air theatre so it's not going to sound intimate by any means.
He doubles down with bassist Kostas "Spades" Heliotis on the grooving death and thrashers and also plays twin leads and plenty of riffs alongside Kostis Fouk. For me though the stand out performance is from Themis, it's often hard to pick out a drummer on records but you can hear every massive strike, pace change and powerful percussive hit with real clarity and you can hear why he's the heartbeat of this band.
35 Years Of Evil Existence: Live In Lycabettus is 25 tracks of Rotting Christ in their natural habitat, storming a stage, proving why they are such a long tenured and beloved part of the Greek metal scene.
9/10Lucifer's Child - The Illuminant (Agonia Records) Continuing with Heathen Hellenic Black Metal we have the new album from Lucifer's Child. Called
The Illuminant it's their first new music since their spilt with Mystifier but it's their first album since 2018's
The Order. Co-founder George Emmanuel (guitar/production) calls it "a bold evolution in our sound" and he's not wrong as on their third album Lucifer's Child increase their intensity on
The Illuminant.
An expulsion of unholy fire comes with first song Antichrist, ferocious black metal blast beats, light speed tremolo picking riffs and Marios Dupont's vocal howl giving praise to the Dark Lord. The production is pin sharp George Emmanuel's skill behind the desk matched by his guitar prowess with complex arrangements on
As Bestas where a thrash-like groove moves into some melodic widdly leads.
The Serpent And The Rod puts Kostas Gerochristos (drums) to the test with some blistering black metal meets hardcore, the shortest song on the record it's the most aggressive turning into a breakdown/solo section at the end.
The Illuminant is very different to their two previous albums, while they paid homage to the foundations of the Hellenic black metal genre, this one incorporates other influences from across Europe and the USA too.
Songs such as
Ichor more vivid and more complex than what has come before, closing the first half of this record. On side two
Righteous Flama has an industrial tinge,
Curse and
The Heaven's Die more traditional black metal, the latter having a some great bass playing from Nick Vell.
As the epic feel of
And All Is Prelude finishes this third album, Lucifer's Child return from their self imposed slumber with their finest work yet. λατρεύουν τον σατανά!
9/10
No Hand Path - Μυστικισμός της Ενηλικίωσης (Floga Records)Translating to
Mysticism Of Coming Of Age Greek black metal act No Hand Path continue on the frostbitten journey they began on previous album
An Existence Regained way way back in 2010. Since then the rhythm section have been playing Varathron, who alongside Rotting Christ and Necromantia (R.I.P) were widely regarded as the founders of Hellenic Black Metal.
No Hand Path are a much rawer act, inspired more by the Scandinavian style of black metal where it's rougher, angrier and more intensely focussed on introspection and dread. This album though is about catharsis as you can probably gain from the title, it's about taking a more conscious approach to life, fighting against the dogma of religion and nationalism, to have a more educated outlook.
In their PR it's said there's nods to Swedeath
(Κοσμογονία/Cosmogony) and crust punk and these are audible, the experimental spirit of Darkthrone coming through on
Εξορκισμός (Exorcism) while
Προδότης (Traitor) is a clear showcase of that rawness I talked about earlier.
No Hand Path pair flesh peeling black metal with intelligent lyrical concepts, proving they still have the goods even after 15 years!
8/10Anglachel - Of Tuor, Idril And their Departure from Gondolin (FYC Records)Dungeon synth. Heard of it, not heard too much of it but apparently Anglachel are one of the top names in the community. If you don't know what Dungeon Synth is, then here's a bit of history, it's an offshoot from the black metal scene, using the synthesized textures that are so often creating atmospheres on black metal albums as the main bulk of the music.
Inspired often by history, mythology and connected to RPG culture, Dungeon Synth is very akin to the classic video game classics of old and also to D&D etc. It's not really "metal" but as most of the musicians also play in metal bands, black metal bands, then it's been embraced or at least tolerated by the metal scene.
Dungeon synth bands also are nearly always one-man projects and Anglachel is no different, it's creative space for Admetos, who has played in a few Greek black metal bands but here lives out his fantasy as an orchestrator, writing music that is inspired by the works of Tolkien.
Of Tuor, Idril And Their Departure From Gondolin was the debut full length released in 2019, preceded by an EP, which documents Tuor's arrival at Gondolin and has been followed by two more albums and two EP's all within the Tolkien mythos.
FYC has taken the decision to re-release this record and if you're a fan of dungeon synth or indeed soundtrack music then you'll probably love this decision. These are instrumental showcases which move with the story, adding darkness and intrigue as they follow the path of the story conveying what's happening without words or any instruments other than synths.
If I'm honest I did get a little restless as it's not a genre I would normally seek out but if you're a Tolkien addict, a tabletop gamer or love music that could be a game soundtrack, then this will be for you.
7/10
