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#FOR FANS OF: Hellenic Black
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The Hellenic scene is one that I truly love to revisit when it's possible, especially if we are talking about one of the big ones of that scene. I reckon that every fan of black metal knows Varathron, as they are considered one of the most classic acts of the extreme metal scene of their country, alongside with Rotting Christ and Septic Flesh. Varathron was founded in Athens in 1989, and as you may expect several line-up changes has occurred since the band inception. Stefan Necroabyssious is the sole original member remained, nowadays accompanied by other four musicians who can also be considered long-time members, as the majority of changes were made in the '90s. The band carved its legendary status with its seminal albums 'His Majesty at the Swamp' and 'Walpurginacht', although they haven´t been particularly prolific releasing full lengths, as they have taken long periods of time between some of the albums. In any case, the wait between those albums were eased with the release of some splits, compilations, and for example an EP called 'The Laments of Gods', which is the effort I am to review today.
'Laments of Gods' was originally released in 1999, during the longer period of time without a new album from Varathron, that lasted nearly a decade. This EP consists of four new tracks and a Merciful Fate cover. What we can find here is the personal sound of this band quite well-represented, with a generous dose of keyboards. It doesn’t reach the level of excellence of the previous albums, but in terms of quality, it is a very enjoyable work. Varathron’s vision of black metal here is the one we can expect from the Hellenic scene, creating songs which combine the rawness of the genre with the trademark strong melodic sense of the Greek scene. With Varathron, the melodic tone is reinforced by the presence of a permanent keyboard player at that time, whose instrument is quite present through the whole EP, and gives a baroque touch to the band’s music. Just give a listen to the beautiful track "Beyond the Grave", where the synths and pianos play a major role with some excellent melodies, combined with Stefan’s raspy vocals and a solid rhythmic base. Even though, as mentioned, the keys are the leaders by far making this song a quite symphonic influenced one. In any case, I like how the guitars, with their rough tone, and the ripped vocals, make a great contrast with the most atmospheric tone of the song. In general terms, the rest of the songs also have a quite strong melodic touch. The keys are generally present, but the balance between the guitars and the keys is more equal. The riffing is more present as you can notice in the EP opener "Fire Spell-Forbidden Lust", where the pace is mainly focused on the mid-tempo rhythm, with even some slow passages at times. The idea is to focus on creating songs where the riffs and the keys have room to create good melodies without having to focus on speed and brutality. The second song "Warrior’s Nightmare" is a bit heavier and probably the hardest one of this EP. The song has a more impetuous touch with even slight moments of a speedier pace, but without quitting from the general tone of this work. The aforementioned rough toned guitars have this time the main role with a greater margin, being the keys in this case almost absent. The recent re-release of this EP, made by Vic Records, comes with three extra songs form the 1997's demo 'Sarmutius Pegoru', which is a great addition.
In conclusion, 'Laments of Gods' is not a masterpiece, but a quite good work with a bunch of songs that every fan of Hellenic black metal should enjoy. (Alain González Artola)
