Mayhem / Mortiis

 so.. we have been waiting for two years for this one. but covid pushed that one further away and away. Only the fact that it finally happened is simply fantastic. I had the Athens ticket from day one and I could not contain my excitement. I have seen Mortiis three times, but with era 2/3 and 0, but never with era 1.

now it was finally time to experience that one, too. arriving at fuzz club i right away met a photographer friend, the drummer of kawir who was my former boss, and later on panos, the headbanging wines owner!! but to that later. so mortiis came on and it was just fantastic. I loved every second of it. after two song segments tim van horn joined him on stage for live drumming. absolutely breath taking! some might remember him from previous tours, i had actually met him in london, too. 

so after the awesome show i decided to hang back a little, that's when i met panos and we talked wine and business and old metal days! and then he handed me his backstage pass, which he had received to talk wines with mortiis. and he said he doesn't need it anymore. oh good lord! so i grabbed it, with my eternal gratitude to panos, and headed backstage, during the first two songs from mayhem. 

after a small disorientation i found the correct spot and waited a little on the lounge couch. that's when håvard came around and spotted me. :) we sat down for an hour and just had the best talk!! tim and håvard tried the wine panos had given them. it was just so great because if we had met outside, we would not have been able to talk much because of mayhem well.. being mayhem!! xD so it was a true blessing and i am so grateful. 

of mayhem i saw the last two three songs, near the merch booth together with mortiis. also bought two shirts in the endorphin high, haha! not that i have enough already but ugh, the awesome designs!! so yea.. a perfect night. absolutely perfect. I cannot tell you how much it still makes me smile and reminisce.

Thank you Håvard, for being such a great guy!! 

Z.A.S.T. Zine

 oh this is a good one. delicately named zombie anal sex terror, this was the old school cut and paste style fanzine from none other than mortiis. he managed to get two editions out before the whole murders and arson stuff went down in norway and his parents basically got rid off everything connected in fear of getting involved with the police, i suppose. 

but at least we have these two! and i cannot thank cult never dies enough for publishing those. it would be such a shame to not have those around! first of all, mortiis made the most hilarious questions ever to the bands. i could not contain the laughter, chuckles and the occasional absolute what the fuck face. because some of those sound like straight from fear and loathing in las vegas. xD absolutely silly stuff, and i love it!

there you have the stark contrast between some oh so serious black metal bands (back then all of them were still death and thrash, basically, before the scene diversified) and then.. håvard!! haha! i must say i enjoyed this immensely, most of all the fanzines i have read about that era. also he included a huge scene report of finland, and boy, did i enjoy that. was so great to read about so many known names. 

so yea.. go buy this! you shall not regret it :D 

Batushka

 what can i say here.. i have seen batushka before and i loved them very much. back then they had only yekteniya out, they played that and left. it was short but fantastic. then after that the band split up after some disputes and quarrels. i admit i did not give them much attention back then because i wasn't sure which side i should be on, haha!

so now after some years, albums from both batushka camps, they would visit athens again. and i decided a bit last minute to go. oh what a great decision! this time they played 1,5 hours and the whole show was a treat for ears, eyes and the soul, haha. it was like a true liturgy, the dark and black metal kind of course.

the background singers were superb. for me they made the huge difference. you felt like truly inside a orthodox church, during unholy mass. what a fantastic sound, the notes vibrating through your body, almost like a meditation, a trance, a ritualistic instinct.. and then the guitars crash in and knock you out, the priest's screams and howls, his slow deliberate movements to light candled, show icons.. perfection. 

batushka have made this into a very distinct art form and have given the whole stage show much thought. it is a fantastic experience and i am very glad i went to see them. 

Album list 2021

 this was such a strange year. I should have had time to listen to a lot, i wasn't yet working until mid October. And still there is little I actually did listen to this year. So this list is not very long this time. Let's get this started.

wardruna - kvitravn

Oh what can I say!! Ever since I saw them live i've been even more entranced by their music. how beautiful, how earthen, how shamanic, trancelike, with an ancient beat that flows through you. I love this even more since einar decided to give the whole album his former black metal name kvitrafn. this is simply beautiful and a circle closing, i guess. 

yoth iria - as the flame withers

Yoth Iria, what a great new project!! it's jim mutilator from rotting christ and his newest musical output. I was so fortunate to meet him a few years back together with sakis and dayal. unforgotten memories there. I support this fully, this is doomy but also black and vicious and harsh, as it should be. 

iselder - welsh nationalist black metal / Fe Godwn Ni Eto

this one is a conflicting one. there should have been a new full length, but it never came out because the welsh police confiscated everything due to accusations of fascism. i am very saddened by this, but it's awesome that we at least got some new music from this remarkable welsh project. everyone who loves their roots and speaks it freely is obviously a fascist.. 

aenos - the great shepherd (EP)

what a find!! this is one of the best atmospheric black metal i've ever heard, and it was recorded on my beloved and favourite greek island, kefalonia! how absolutely fantastic is this! I hope there is more to come, because this is way more than promising!

mortiis - transmissions / shadow of the tower 

YES!! MORTIIS!! i can't count all the single songs that he released or gave snippets from to his loyal followers in the cult of thee black wizard. but these two need a mention! these are almost full albums, but yea.. being just one song each xD that is so old school and so against the stream and I love it. both are fantastic works, the first being a live recording of way back then, the second being a reworking of old material. beautiful, can't wait for all the new mortiis stuff the new year brings!!

darkthrone - eternal hails

YESSSS DARKTHRONE!! eh yea. well, every new darkthrone album is a party. because all their last three albums have tapped exactly into my vein. this is what i love and this is what I need from them! i cannot get into all their back catalogue, so I am even more delighted that they have found now this niche sound with basically bits from everywhere. black, death, doom, punk, trash, you name it!! it's perfection and I bow before the mighty fenriz.

tuhonsiemen - katkeransuloinen

finally some finns!! and here is a sad one. that is their last album and they decided to call it quits. what a great way to go. it's sad, but also a true testament they left behind. Kiitos. 

darkwoods my betrothed - angel of carnage unleashed

I must admit i did not listen to this as much as I should have. this is such an interesting project, revived after so many years! they hail from kitee, a city I have been to!! tuomas from nightwish even rejoined their ranks! and this is quite bashing black metal, too! awesome. need to give it a few more listens. 

havukruunu - kuu erkylän yllä

more finns! havukruunu have been a constant in my listening schedule, too. this is metal to bang your head to. this is heavy and black and pretty cool. been enjoying them also with this release a lot.

tyrant moon - eternal nightfall

this was a gift!! so i said, why not. and oh, this is nice! black metal as it should be. quite the punch in the face, right there. 

lazy man's load - all hat no cattle

now i saw them live on christmas eve, together with nightstalker and suicidal angels. and of the three i liked them the most! immediately bought their album. southern rock meets metal and gets shot at with some doom and stoner rock. awesome stuff, absolutely love it!!

find of the year:

ered wethrin - tides of war

yep, this is not from this year. but i discovered it this year and its an album i come back to again and again. it is SO good!! i could listen to summoning 24/7, but sometimes you wanna know if there is something else out there as good as it. ok, there will never be anyone as good as summoning, but this comes close to it! awesome awesome album. 

loss of the year:

swallow the sun - moonflowers

how dare i. my local heroes from jyväskylä, my drinking buddies in freetime and i did not listen to their new album!! shame on me. I am really sorry. I need to absolutely do this in 2022 then. i heard the best about this album. 

song of the year:

wardruna - kvitravn

well, i had to. it is just too good. the song, the title, the band, the album. listen to it. get swept away by it. get sucked into it. brilliant. 

live of the year

well.. there was not much. there was the festival where i saw livet i mørke, they are black metal. other than that it was just other metal i saw on two more occasions. the mini festival in summer with toxic pub which were great fun, and the christmas show i mentioned before. so.. that was all the live music this year. damn you you rotten virus! yep, that. 

- Daedin

Black death and beyond

 Another post about a book.. well, there are just a few concerts now and I have been to a christmas party with Lazy man's load, Suicidal angels and Nightstalker. But that's not black metal, so i'll just leave it there. Still hoping for the mayhem/mortiis tour, but it looks bleak to be honest..

Anyways, this one is a true gem here. I am SO happy i bought this. I did think about it for a while because I don't really need the CDs. But I needed that book. Not having seen it before i wasn't sure if it would be worth it. if it's just ten pages with a bit of information i would have been disappointed. But this here is pure gold. 

This book explains the beginnings of Darkthrone, most of the content is from interviews with the guys themselves and other involved parties. So this is in their own words. It's a lengthy enough book and it explains a lot of things that were also new to me. I loved to read about every single album, how they came about and how they were released. 

This ties nicely together also with Ted's solo stuff and his DVD he had released and that I have in my possession. It explains his feelings and his escapism. Fenriz talks about his depression and his own demons he had to fight. All in all a great book, with huge and plenty photographs, some published for the first time. This is eye candy as well! all in all this was one of the best buys ever, I love to have this in my collection. 

- Daedin 

Rotting ways to misery

Rotting ways to misery, the history of Finnish death metal. That's another book I recently bought and read. Yes, this is about death metal and not primarily black metal. But in the beginning the scene had no distinction between the two, everything was just extreme. The terms black and death would come later. So books about death metal and its beginning always also talk about black metal bands, because they were in the beginning the same small tight underground group. 

So although I read this books mainly for amorphis and sentenced and the jyväskylä (and vaasa) scene where I was part of, of course there were many mentions of black metal bands, too. I enjoyed this book immensely, it was just such a joy to read about the beginnings and how these bands got started. I'm too young to have been part of that, but I was part of the second wave of death metal in finland, when I was an active member of the scene from 2002 to 2008 and went to countless concerts in Lutakko and elsewhere. 

So that was really awesome to read and remember those times back then. Another book I read right now is the Finnish book called pohjoisen laulut, Suomalaisen hevimetallin matka maailmalle. This translates roughly as the songs of the north, Finnish heavy metal and its road to global success. This is also not fixed on black metal, but many black metal bands get a mention, too and are part of the whole metal scene that has gained fame outside of finland. this book is also great, it was written by a guy from Jyväskylä, and i just love that he is from my hometown in finland! how awesome! 

It is a somewhat academic book, because it was written after his research work for another project, so it is a bit drier to read than other books, but it's absolutely massive in interviews, research done in magazines and own experiences. So it's very entertaining, too. 

So yea, that's it so far, in the absence of concerts and all that.. there seem to be some concerts starting november-december and I hope i can go to one of them. let's see and hope for the worst and fear for the best, haha!

Merch of the bands

 so this one was absolutely unexpected. I didn't know about this until my partner's son mentioned it. I thought I could have a look, since there were supposed to be metal bands at merch of the bands. 

I was in for a treat!! i met there again my former boss and drummer in Kawir, Hyperion. That was awesome and we could exchange a bit news and moan about the covid situation, haha!

I went to purchase a book about led zeppelin, too, and it wasn't even too expensive. 15 euro for a huge biography. can't wait to read that one, led zeppelin are one of my favourites and they were my second huge rock love after aerosmith. 

and well, who do i spot then?? sakis from rotting christ!! i finally caught up with him then and we had a chat. he asked about my daughter right away <3 it was so awesome to meet some metal family at this event, because it's been ages since the last huge concerts or festivals, so this was the next best thing. 

and so I left the event, grinning from ear to ear, with a fantastic book in my hands and some great memories. i really hope concerts come back next year.. 

Livet i Mørke

 it's been quite a while.. the Covid virus is still holding a tight grip on us all. There are no bigger festivals, concert tours and sport events yet. it is slowly getting better with people getting vaccinated and some events taking place. 

this actually happened end of may/june, but i'm not sure why i didn't write about it then. but now it's time for it!! so i had been to park tritsi to do a virtual half marathon and was nearly finished when i get a phone call from dennis. he tells me there is a metal festival going on at the small park next to his shop. so although i was dead tired i headed over to the park, with a few euro and a shirt from his stock, haha, and there i was!! 

it was massive fun, finally after such a long time, a festival again!! there was a quite interesting band, one that played only instrumental and was kinda boring after a while, but this here is about livet i mørke, because they are black metal!! 

oh boy, it was awesome. i've missed this so much! i afterwards checked facebook and even wrote them, but they don't have any material out yet. i grabbed the few live videos they have to be able to listen to something. but yea, this is fresh, underground greek black metal (with a scandinavian name, haha) and it's awesome!

just one weekend later i went to another mini festival with two metal bands. there was no black metal, but toxic pub played thrash metal classics, so mostly cover songs but that was SO fun, too. lots of head banging going on there :)

anyways, it's end of august now, since then there hasn't been anything else I heard of or went to, because summer in greece means that everything stops, haha. but there is something else I must write about, but that in the next blog post then, hehe!!

alrighty, laters then!! 

Album list 2020

 album list 2020

what kind of year was that?? did we ever think that something like this could happen, not just in the apocalypse movies but in real life?? it’s been crazy, it’s been insane, i’ve been frustrated so many times, angry, sad, disappointed.. but what can you do. life goes on. and with it music. wardruna’s new album was postponed to 2021, i was really pissed about that. but here is the rest, some really awesome gems amongst them. 

mortiis - spirit of rebellion

this album is based on, as the name already tells us, Ånden som gjorde opprør, but mortiis soon realised that the album started to develop into its own, individual work. it’s such a great album, it does remind of era 1, it’s of the same spirit and highly enjoyable. I’m so happy to see mortiis is continuing and it actually doesn’t matter where he’d going, i’m following and i love everything i hear. 

kawir - adrasteia

Kawir!! i love them very dearly from the moment i discovered them. if you remember, their drummer is actually my former boss :D so yea, also this work is fantastic. i love how they take some theme from greek mythology and create their masterpieces with a concept behind it. 

aherusia - NOSTOS~An Answer (?)

and then aherusia!! same goes for aherusia. they use traditional greek elements and their music is also a work of art in a way, tying together old and new. absolutely fantastic music, glad to see they continue in their own niche and with their own style. 

oranssi pazuzu - mestarin kynsi

finns are represented here, too, with oranssi pazuzu. their newest album didn’t strike me immediately, but also with their previous albums it’s like this. they need time to develop and you need to concentrate on them and let the music suck you in. astonishing new album!

solstice - angleland

this is a compilation of live tracks, some demos, rare tracks and such. i’m always eager to hear unreleased stuff from them, because until now i loved whatever they put out. here it’s a great mix for the true fans.

nomagik aka akizzbeatzz - urbanized desert stories

my former workmate and his great project is continuously evolving. he put out a new full album and it’s great relaxing music, full of rhythm, drums, beats. something really different from the rest of my discography, but i love it!

emyn muil - afar angathfark

WOW!!! i fell in love with this album immediately. yes, it’s very summoning oriented, but it’s so so good! i think the best until now. it catches the spirit totally and is full of great moments. 

dwarrowdelf - evenstar

Also dwarrowdelf released a new album and i like it a lot. It has some clean vocals and some unexpected parts, but it’s really good and it’s a great evolution of dwarrowdelfs sound. well done!!

in slaughter natives - skända din nästa

this is a compilation kind of album with older assorted songs. i love this one, so dark, so hypnotizing, so soul crushing!!

Árstíðir lífsins - Saga á tveim tungum II: Eigi fjǫll né firðir

these icelanders were my newcomers this year because all other bands were already known to me. this album is great metal inspired by iceland, vikings, traditions. beautiful to listen to their language, what a fantastic album. 

ulver - flowers of evil

I love ulver! even more so since I’ve seen them live. their new album is the same style than their last and it’s very catchy music. danceable, electronic, very entertaining!! this is a must!

havukruunu - uinuos syömein sota

oh, some more finns! havukruunu have created a great album with also a huge fanbase, according to bandcamp!! i’m very happy for them, their album, the artwork, the specific Finnish metal sound, it’s all there! 

EPs

yoth iria - under his sway

a new project by jim mutilator!! fantastic two track with slow, menacing sounds, exactly what i like. can’t wait for the full album!

ville valo - gothica fennica vol.1

ville is back!! i’ve been so excited to hear his new EP and it’s very much alike HIM and it’s so good. it’s what we’ve all been missing since HIM quit!

ihsahn - telemark \ pharos

ihsahn has become one of my favourite artists, who would’ve guessed! but seeing him live played a huge role here. his new EPs speak to me even more, since one is titled after his birthplace in norway and the second bears a greek name. so that’s pretty cool. and the songs are fantastic with the title track pharos being my favourite. and some fun cover tracks thrown in, too :D

mortiis - the shadow of the tower (full), remixes, the great leap remixes, bleed like you remixes, sins of mine, blood becomes water

ok, mortiis put out the full album and then a bunch of other stuff. i think i didn’t even write down all of it here. i can’t get enough and he’s been fantastic in sharing with us everything he’s working on. that’s also part of the cult of thee black wizards i’m part of, a secret mythical club, of only initiated wizards and witches, hehehehehehe!! :D

encloaked - isolation suite, beacons burning on the winter horizon, hyperborean hands

I discovered also encloaked, this is synth music, very hypnotic and drawing you into another world. beautiful music to relax and escape. 

xelyruth - where pages scream

this is a greek project and this album was part of the book/music project called the metal chapters. i read the book and some of the songs accompany small stories. really great concept and awesome metal!

live concerts

well.. there wasn’t going on much due to corona.. but at least in the beginning of the year i still managed a few concerts. 

rotting christ heretics tour 

rotting christ had to postpone the athens show due to weather problems on sea. so the concert moved to the new year. it was so great to see them again, i had missed them!! the tolis brothers are now accompanied by two new guys and i was first sad to see vagelis and george go, but actually they found good replacements. this was so fun and i enjoyed this so very much!!

under the pagan moon II

i’ve been to the first, of course i had to go to the second instalment, too!! i saw sear bliss. black metal with a trumpet!! and this works so well, it really surprised me! and then kawir. oh yes!! it’s been a joy to see them live again, as well as my former boss. they played music from their entire career. i’m more into the mythological stuff than the pure black metal tracks, but there is something for everyone. great evening!

ved buens ende

this concert was on march 6th. just a few days later we were hit with a lockdown. we were so incredibly luckily to see them live. they are a band who do not play many live shows and they decided to come to athens!! how awesome. this was a fantastic concert, and i didn’t even know their stuff previously. absolutely fantastic, so happy i got to see this all star norwegian black metal band :D 

and well.. then everything stopped. and i haven’t seen any more bands this year. hoping for a better 2021, hoping that the mortiis/mayhem show will actually take place. let’s keep our fingers crossed!!

best song of the year

emyn muil - hall of the fallen

wow, simply wow!! this is so much in the vein of summoning and it’s SO good. love this song so very much, really reminds me of the best summoning songs ever composed. 

Ved Buens Ende

Holy crap!! So this is a band that has been around since the 90s and managed to only release one full album. They broke up, having played live only a couple of times. They reunited just to disperse again. Their recent reunion was accompanied by a handful of festival appearances. And then Greece!! How blessed are we!

I'm saying that because this band consists of the quite legendary Norwegian musicians vicotnik and Carl-Michael eide. So of course I had to go see them! Arriving at fuzz club I still caught a bit of the opener insect ark. Heavy, droning, repetitive sounds, something quite extraordinary!

Ved Buens Ende Hit the stage with a small delay and from the beginning it was a very intense experience. The clean singing of eide with the rough singing of vicotnik complemented each other perfectly. Musically it is avantgarde black metal, very creative and still dark. Brilliant!!

Vicotnik ended the night with informing us that there are no other encores because they actually have no more songs, haha!! Well, let's hope they think about creating new music for next time then!!

-Daedin
Listen, hear my demons dance,
after a view and a fallen star, they gather

edit: how even more lucky are we, that this concert was scheduled right before the corona virus ended all concerts and festivals. now let's hope for some summer festivals at least to take place..

Under the pagan moon II

Sear Bliss - Kawir

this festival comprised of five bands actually, but i only saw two of them. but those were awesome! well, kawir was the band i came for, having seen them live before and also their drummer being my former colleague.

so it was also a case of supporting a friend. gagarin was nicely filled by the time i arrived and sear bliss had already started playing. they are hungarian and they are awesome! it was really a surprise for me. they have a live trumpeter and that mind sound really strange. black metal and a trumpet?? but actually it really works!! it was so fun!!

kawir started their set with three girls dressed in ancient robes and performing some pagan fire-ritual-dance and that was pretty cool. they started to play first some more raw black metal songs and changed into their more folk oriented songs for the second part of the show.

i enjoyed those the most with artemis, dionysus, trimorphi thea and hermes being one of my favourites. oh, there was also to kavirs and agamemnon!! i wish i could have stayed until the end, but the concert had started half an hour late and it was already going to be one a clock until i'm home, so i left before the end.

still i was happy to see them again, to also get the new album and to discover a new band!! can a evening get much better than this??

- Daedin

ελθε μακαρ διονυσε
ος χιφεσιν χαιρεις
ελθε μακαρ διονυσε
ος αιματι χαιρεις

Rotting Christ Heretics tour

this concert had been planned for november but was cancelled due to bad weather conditions that prevented the band to bring their gear safely from italy to greece via ship. so the concert was postponed until january. just a few days prior to the concert the co-headliner moonspell dropped out, not being able to leave portugal for personal reasons.

well for me that was no big deal, i was there for rotting christ anyway. piraeus academy was sold out anyway and the place was packed by the time i arrived. there were two support bands which i missed. rotting christ entered the stage with ΧΞΣ and the place already went nicely nuts, haha!!

there followed many songs i personally love, like απαγε σατανα, ελθε κυριε, δαιμονων βρωσις, νεμεσις, societas satanas, grandis spiritus diabolos and the ever amazing κατα τον δαιμονα εαυτου.

i must say that i really love how the band has become even more ritualistic, mysterious and spiritualistic than they were before, it seems they really soak this up. there are so many chanted parts, so much liturgic stuff, absolutely fantastic. it creates such a deep and dark atmosphere.

i had to leave before the encore because of my daughter being sick at home, so i missed non serviam, but that's ok. it was a most remarkable night, with two new members of the band, with lots of head banging and screaming and an awesome feeling leaving the place. rotting christ are an institution, they are of the old league, they are legends!!

- Daedin

ΦΡΙΚΩΔΗΣ ΤΕΚΝΑ

ΚΑΤΑΡΕΣ

ΔΑΙΜΟΝΩΝ ΒΡΩΣΗΣ

ΣΚΙΑ ΑΝΑΙΜΑΚΤΟΣ

Album list 2019

this year has not been as busy as other years. mainly because i couldn’t focus much on it, i didn’t have enough time. but still there are enough albums i bought, listen to and love. 

Full-lengths

rotting christ - the heretics

rotting christ have been one of my favourites, ever since i started to listen to black metal. with their last three albums they went into a direction that i absolutely love. it’s this ritualistic feeling, this deep, rooted, spiritual element. their newest album is a concept album and it’s again brilliant. i’m so glad this band is still around.

Týr - hel

Týr have transformed a few times. i must say that i liked their doom phase the most and wasn’t that impressed by the more heavy metal feeling that came later on. it seems that this album is a better combination of both, still very awesome viking battle metal or something, haha! 

deadspace - dirge

deadspace are delivering again! whatever they release, i always like it. the music is heavy, full of agony and pain. 

swallow the sun - when a shadow is forced into the light

beautiful album!! swallow the sun started their career with a brilliant album. after some albums that didn’t stick much to my memory, the last years have seen them find their unique, very diverse style. well done!

darkthrone - old star

ok, fenriz is god. :D i love how he focuses more on nature, heaviness and blackness in the last albums and this one is another true gem. awesome tunes.

gaahls wyrd - GastiR - Ghosts Invited

gaahl is back!! oh how i loved the news! it took a while for the first album to come out, but there it is and it’s brilliant. it’s like you pair wardruna with trelldom and spice it up with just a hint of gorgoroth. definitely worth the wait.

dwarrowdelf - of dying lights / from beneath the fells

dwarrowdelf released two albums. the new album of dying lights, which is again beautiful tolkienesque black metal, and the from beneath the fells album, which is dungeon synth influenced and a very interesting new direction. both are great albums!

insanity cult - all shall return to chaos

insanity cult also released a new album and they stick to their recipe of despair and darkness. loved it!

abbath - outstrider

abbath released his second solo album and it’s just as strong as the first!! abbath just recently went into rehab and it’s all been building up, it seems, with king leaving the band.. i hope abbath gets his shit together, comes clean and continues this musical journey! 

order of the ebon hand - VII : the chariot

this band has been around for so long, but only released their third full album this year. it’s how greek black metal should be, the way we love it. well done, i hope they’ll get the tarot deck done in quite some years to come :D

mayhem - daemon

yessss!! i was really excited for new mayhem, because they were so fantastic live and i discovered them anew. the new album is brilliant and i love to see how they defied all odds and still make great music. 

EPs - compilations - demos

mortiis - blood and thunder EP with bonus songs / visions of an ancient future (excerpt from upcoming album spirit of rebellion / doppelgänger+geisteskrank+the shining lamp of god+demons are back full album versions / cintecele diavolui: one soul less for the devil / the awaken: the forgotten songs from smell of rain 

erm, ok, so.. i don’t even know how to count those all, haha!! so mortiis started to seriously empty his attic, haha!! there are so many unreleased songs from different phases, from cintecele diavolui, from different eras.. and it’s all gonna be released!! also mortiis started the cult of thee black wizards, which i am part of and thus got a lot of exclusive material. well.. what can i say really?? i’m salivating, i’m happy.. SO MUCH MORTIIS!! i love that man. :D

Úir - Óenach Tailten

this EP is awesome. i love to discover metal artist that sing in celtic languages. here we have scottish gaelic and it’s a feast for the ears. 

Solstice - White Thane

so solstice have a new singer, a woman!! to commemorate this they rereleased two songs with her on vocals. very interesting path we’re following here, let’s see what they are up to next!!

Evalir - the awakening

want some tolkien black metal? want some atmospheric black metal? here it is!! yet another great band with a promising EP

Heather Wasteland - Tre Sverd

very interesting project with pagan sounds. mortiis took over some local parts in norwegian, which is something thrilling! apart from Vond, we normally don’t hear mortiis in norwegian :) 

Dreams of nature - Naturaleza Ancestral

this is a compilation of songs that were previously only released on some split albums. this is a great idea and i’m glad i could get a collection of all these songs. lovely atmospheric music, full of love for nature. 

Kalmankantaja - Ruumiinvaellus / Kuoleman kehtolaulut 2014-2017

a new song demo and a compilation of songs that were most likely released on splits etc. this was a true bargain, so i had to get the album. kalmankantaja always deliver and their style is just solid, crushing, depressing music. i didn’t listen much into this direction this year, but kalmankantaja is a must.

Marwolaeth records - bristish black metal vol.2

after their first compilation, this welsh black metal label released another compilation this year with more underground bands. awesome. i really enjoy supporting some small scenes, like the welsh.

song of the year:

mortiis - methuselah

yep.. this is a song from the smell of rain recordings and it wasn’t released until now. and i have no idea why. it’s such a brilliant song!! it’s exactly the kind of stuff that made smell of rain so fantastic. can’t wait for more unreleased stuff! :)

concerts:

ihsahn / order of the ebon hand

i haven’t been to many concerts this year. having a toddler means i have to pick my concerts and just go to the ones i absolutely NEED to see. this was one of them. ihsahn, the emperor, the black wizard!! i didn’t know his solo stuff well, but listened to it prior to the concert. it was fantastic. he’s formidable live. he sings parts in emperor voice. he is a stage presence that you will remember forever. absolutely smashing. 

order of the ebon hand were support and i wanted to see more, but because of heavy traffic i only made it for a few songs. still i’m happy i saw them again and also got the new album!

wardruna 

wardruna!! kvitrafn doesn’t need much introduction. once drummer of gorgoroth, he started wardruna and it’s such beautiful music. it’s deeply rooted in tradition, paganism and shamanism. simply fantastic! i enjoyed this concert immensely and i’m so happy i could go see einar. 

marina

yep, no metal here, haha! but i will put this here, too, because she was fantastic. marina is half greek, half welsh and was known as marina and the diamonds. the concert was fantastic, was dancing along to all the songs. she also sang one song in greek, which was so emotional! enjoyed this so very much :)

Ihsahn / Order of the ebon hand

In September there were going to be two interesting black metal acts, namely Ihsahn and Dimmu Borgir. I don't really know either of them, just having heard a few songs. Finally it turned out that I wouldn't be in Athens for Dimmu Borgir, so I chose to go see Ihsahn.

It was a great choice. I did listen to his albums before the concert of course, but not with paying so much attention. I thought I liked what I heard without being too fascinated.

Arriving late to Fuzz club because of celebrations in Aigaleo, I managed to catch only a few songs of Order of the ebon hand. I wanted to see more of them, too bad. But I bought their new album and will give it a listen soon. They are awesome guys who play black metal the way it should be played.

Ihsahn hit the stage exactly on time and the concert started off with some great tunes. I have to check the setlist later, I have no idea what he played, but it was a great mix. I love that he incorporates so many styles and still it is metal, still it is heavy, still Ihsahn. And his voice!! He has enough parts in his Emperor voice and I love it! Really makes you feel connected to the past and his black metal roots.

I also had Mortiis flyers with me and left them at Fuzz. So it was kind of an Emperor night and it felt fantastic. I wish I could see Emperor one day, but until then, this was the closest I can get to it and it was formidable.

Give in to the hunger
Give in to the solitude
Give in to the rapture of life
Give in to the darkness
Mass darkness

- Daedin