Black Metal

Released in 1995 by the pivotal Full Moon Productions, Oimai Algeiu was underground black metal for underground black metallers. Not kowtowing to increasingly trendy Scandinavian sounds, no “romance” or gothic or vampires, and definitely no mosh nor no fun: ALGAION here created a surging and windswept landscape on which to paint dark desires and honor that Hellenic pantheon. It was a raw landscape, to be sure, but one contemporaneous with their Greek brethren and duly emitting a perhaps-colder atmosphere than the duskiness usually associated with that scene. However, above all, it was the songwriting itself which put Oimai Algeiou amongst that hallowed company, pulsing with a simple-yet-sublime melodicism and never-forgotten heavy metal spirit, all dusted with just the right amount of melancholy and the subtlest hint of synth.

Black Metal

CAEDES CRUENTA indeed made it their mission to uphold this noble sound, and it arguably reached its perfect on their second album, Ερείπια Ψυχών, originally released at the end of 2014. Whereas their Σκιές δαιμόνων debut album from four years previous took an altogether more atmospheric route, here CAEDES CRUENTA expanded from a duo to a quartet, and immediately is that classic Greek physicality felt: pulsing and patient but portending ominousness and metallic might, Ερείπια Ψυχών is the surging, Alpha sound of ancient brimstone made forever vital and virile. Bass-heavy in its infinitely potent throb and tastefully embellished with subtle layers of mystical synth, one could be forgiven for thinking CAEDES CRUENTA transported the listener back in time, so authentic and invigorating is Hellenic classicism.