Hellenic Black Metal act Varathron are blessed with an incredibly stable line-up in recent years, given that the current version of the band came together in 2012. Singer Stefan Necroabyssious has been at the helm for 35 years, and he is joined by Achilleas C on guitars and keyboards, Sotiris on guitars, Stratos on bass and Haris on drums. This is their seventh studio album, releasing their debut all the way back in 1993, and they are widely regarded as one of the top bands from Greece, if not exactly the most prolific.

What is fascinating with this release is that while everything about it screams black metal, from a pure musical perspective there is a lot more going on than “just” that genre. The most notable is the heavy use of folk within the guitars, so much so that if they used pipes instead of guitar there is no doubt they would be considered to be very much in the folk metal genre, and there is also plenty of Iron Maiden styles present as well, so much so that this feels like a very commercial album indeed with Stefan’s vocals often behind the attack instead of at the fore. It is almost as if they have taken black metal as their core, but then have branched out so much that at times it is as if they have left the genre altogether, but always come back to their roots. The band is incredibly tight, with keyboards providing a nice atmosphere over the top, but to me it comes across as a little lightweight although I note plenty of other reviewers are hailing this as a classic. I suggest you listen first and make up your own mind, but it is certainly an intriguing approach.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://varathron.com/
https://www.agoniarecords.com/