Medieval Demon – All Powers Of Darkness Review

No need for prologue: the simplest way to describe Medieval Demon’s new album, All Powers of Darkness, is to say that it is “Greek black metal.” If that sounds like an insult, though… buddy, have you heard Greek black metal? Sure, there are going to be duds in any niche style, but the potently majestic style that most of us mean when we use “Greek black metal” as the general form of a proper noun like Kleenex or Q-tip has a higher hit-rate than your average local chapter of “Really Bad at Blackjack Anonymous.”

The particularly neat trick about Greek black metal to me is how so many bands in the style somehow manage to sound simultaneously like they are invoking an ancient ritual from the forgotten eons AND like they have been airdropped on-stage to fill in for Iron Maiden circa 1985. So the opening track, “Raging Lord of the Deeps,” wastes absolutely no time setting the atmosphere with its church organ and pounding timpani. It bolts through a blaze of blasts and howls for its first minutes, but then pulls way back into a gradually building section of chants and negative space.

“Eosforean Night” is particularly vicious, spotlighting some incredible high-string lead work from the bass while the guitars and drums hammer away, but then just before the five-minute mark, the guitars start popping off and trading squealing licks that rocket off the corners of the riffing, before it all lands back in unison with more timpani and some lovely orchestral flourishes, with flute-like synth tones doubling the plaintive guitar lead. “Mystic Path Towards the Abyss,” meanwhile, flirts with some of the most overtly symphonic accompaniment in its first half, but then at about the two and a half minute mark (just after some inspired, leaping grand piano) drops into a hugely satisfying half-time stomp to make space for soloing guitar.

And really, the whole thing is like this: eight tunes and fifty minutes of frankly primo Greek black metal that hits all the notes you want without sounding like a rehash of anyone else exactly. Medieval Demon manages that tightwire feat of stuffing these songs so full of embellishment and complexity, yet never allowing those additions to overshadow the obsidian core of their riffs, their spiteful vocal exhortations, their unswerveable drive. “Tartarean Winds of Vengeance” opens with some Nick Barker-esque blast beats but soon pulls back into an arrogant groove backed by a brief guest saxophone spot that blends surprisingly well with the guitar arpeggios and synth strings.

Every song here is an honest to goodness gem, but “Fullmoon over the Temple of Belial” might be my favorite of the bunch. It fuses the drum kit and the timpani in a particularly turbulent low-end rumble, but it also pulls in some particularly killer piano hammering and the ever-effective tolling bells. It’s got haughty laughter, it’s got a dream-like, hallucinatory sway, and it’s got – around the 3-minute point – a delightfully classicist dual-guitar lead and solo section. The point is, friends, if you – like me – are a certified mark for the likes of Rotting Christ, Varathron, Thou Art Lord, Necromantia, Nergal, and Zemial, as well as more recent carriers of the flame like Katavasia, Funeral Storm, and Yoth Iria, kindly scoot All Powers of Darkness right up to the tippy-top of your wishlist. It’s Greek black metal, y’all – Greeker than Socrates throwing a plate of spanakopita into the sea; Greeker than John Stamos getting trashed on ouzo; Greeker than using Yanni’s discarded mustache to sweep up a tzatziki spill in the Parthenon. έτσι πάει…