Yoth Iria – Gone With The Devil Review

[Album artwork by Harshanand Singh]

The third album is in some ways a litmus test for a band’s longevity. Three albums is a sufficient sample size—you can generally tell where a band is headed, whether they’ll last, whether they speak to you … or don’t. And Yoth Iria and I have maintained a healthy line of communication over their first two albums: As the Flame Withers and Blazing Inferno, respectfully. Strange, given that Yoth Iria’s Jim Mutilator had already left Rotting Christ by then, but the band’s sound has always felt somewhat like a cousin to the latter’s particularly melodic mid-period form, when Rotting Christ was cheat-coding their way through four favorites of mine in just five years; Sleep of the Angels (1999) – Sanctus Diavolos (2004), for the record.

Though Yoth Iria’s sophomore effort, Blazing Inferno, felt initially like a more melodic and purposeful version of the debut, As the Flame Withers, it didn’t quite have as much staying power. Dust settled, it felt less urgent. It channeled less of the anxiety and moments of panic inherent in mid-period Rotting Christ. The pace was a little too stunted. Less varied. Granted, Blazing Inferno is still a fantastic record. That it ranked on my year-end list, and quite high, is no coincidence. But with distance it feels like the lesser record.

Gone with the Devil by Yoth_Iria

So having now wasted two paragraphs with context, I won’t beat around the bush—Yoth Iria’s Gone with the Devil is a potent amalgamation of the prior two records’ strengths and proof of the band’s continued inspiration moving forward.

One of Blazing Inferno’s few weak points was its flow. It felt too single tone. There’s nothing wrong with a well-crafted, uber-melodic mid-pace song, of course. But the strongest Hellenic black metal albums are those that balance brooding melodicism and a more sinister intensity. Blazing Inferno parked its chair a little too long in the former, at the expense of the latter. And Gone with the Devil is the slight course correction Yoth Iria needed. Granted, the marker distinguishing Gone with the Devil from Blazing Inferno isn’t as obvious upon first listen. But it is there. And it becomes more apparent with time.

The shift from Blazing Inferno to Gone with the Devil is not so much mid to fast pace but single to multi-tone. Gone is simply more expressive in the ways that matter. “Woven Spells of a Demon,” for instance, is as mid-paced as anything on Blazing Inferno, but there are layers here that aren’t present on at least some of Blazing. The rhythm and the chorus stick, no doubt. But there’s an underlying intensity in the drums and the vocals that give “Woven” its backbone.

Gone with the Devil by Yoth_Iria

At the risk of committing to a needless comparison, what Yoth Iria do for or with Hellenic black metal is not too unlike what Kreator have done with Teutonic thrash on Enemies of God, Phantom Antichrist, and, to a lesser extent, Krushers of the World. The band seizes on a few key elements and through its collective experience projects a more melodic and accessible but still quite deep vision of a well-established genre’s sound. Though it goes down easy, it’s also quite substantive. Simple, in some respects. Rewarding all the same.

Some of Yoth Iria’s riskier takes—the ones that only vaguely sound like Hellenic black metal—are its strongest. “3 am,” for example, has an almost industrial-like, pounding rhythm. It’s moody. Somber. Maybe even a little poppy. And if you’re looking for something that resembles Medieval Demon or Varathron, you’ll be disappointed. It’s not an outlier, either. “Harut, Government, Fallen” and “Blessed Be Who Enters” are at least spiritually similar.

Less a seismic shift than a tonal recalibration, Gone with the Devil is Yoth Iria in peak confidence. A cheap (pulp) and romantic reimagining of Hellenic black metal, its best songs stick to the darkest corners of your gut. Almost celebratory in its gloominess. Cathartic.