Rewind Tuesday....Catching Up With Stuff That Came Out Months Ago!

VARATHRON

UNTRODDEN CORRIDORS OF HADES

Yep, because you have a job/kids/committments/all of the aforementioned you miss things.  You miss that special offer at the pizza shop where if you spend a tenner you get a can of Vimto free, you miss that happy hour at the local pub where bitter is £1 a pint and (like me) you miss a shitload of great releases from 2014 in the world of metal.  All because people need money, love and security as humans we are shit at keeping up with or on top of releases.  I envy the blogs who have the time and dedication to post "stuff that comes out today" lists, but if there are any readers out there of this blog you should note I tend to operate on the more traditional take on time by getting round to stuff "eventually".

So no surprise the for me to have only just picked up the Nov 2014 album from Greek BM legends Varathron a whole 4 months late.  Now for anyone with an internet connection or some basic knowledge of BM, you will already remember that Varathron released a rather good album back in 1993 entitled "His Majesty At The Swamp".  As fine a slice of hellenic BM you could hope to hear in your miserable little life, "His Majesty.." reserves a place in history as one of those classic albums for a genre.  Being honest, since that release things have been patchy at best for Varathron.  Follow up "Walpurgisnacht" suffered from a terrible sound and "Crowsreign" was a change of direction too far for some before they eventually got their act together again with "Stygian Forces of Scorn". In between full lengths they fleshed out the time with EPs, compilations and splits which never really held much regard from me.

5 years on from "Stygian.." and "Untrodden Corridors Of Hades" thankfully retains the hellenic majesty of the preceding full length.  Let's get the obvious out of the way - it isn't "His Majesty..." Part II (it was 21 years ago get over your fucking selves!), this album has more maturity evident than a residential care home and the production values show that.  What the album does do brilliantly is retain those familiar occult, ritual laden sounds.  It puts them on display like trophies in a cabinet or exhibits at a museum.  As the dark and doomy pace rolls along there is that ever near frantic vocal style and stabbing melody to accompany it.  Stefan's vocals are at the forefront of Varathron's sound but by no means are they the only distinguishing part of the whole.  The key to the success of "Untrodden.." is the ability for the listener to be able to hear all the parts of the puzzle.  Be that the molesting melody of the guitars or the variety of pace in the drums or even the proggy aspects to the bass, it is all there to enjoy as you chant along.

The build of the whole album is superb too.  The start of "Kabalisitc Invocation of Solomon" is a perfect chaser for the rest of the darkness that you get to savour with each track and by the time you get to the final two tracks you are pissed out of your mind on the menacing molestation that is occuring in your ears.  Seriously I haven't heard an album close as strongly as this does with "Death Chant" and "Delve Into The Past" with their grimy feel and disturbed chants.  Listen also to "The Bright Trapezium" with its frantic start tempered perfectly by the change to a more mid pace within 90 seconds which really lets the bass and guitars shine through before going back into frenzied territory again. The technicality that has always been there with Varathron has found a new lease of life in the more grown up version of the group.  The chops of the final throes of the closing track leave a real sense of something having begun, a fire having been (re?)ignited, a promise almost of even more quality to come from one of Greece's finest BM artists.

The future is bright folks.  Well, in a dark and grimy kind of way at least.