THYRATHEN – Lakonic

vote
7.5

• Bands:
  THYRATHEN
• Duration: 00:45:15
• Available from: 01/11/2024
• Label:

• Floga Records

It seems to us that, lately, the infernal springs located on Greek soil are enjoying good health, with a whole plethora of musicians ready to drink from their black waters, drawing lifeblood from them.
The return of Thyrathen, three years after the first “ThanotOpsis”, fits perfectly into this picture of evil vitality, but given the presence in the lineup of Stefan Necroabyssious (leader of Varathron and half a dozen other bands), this is not surprising: if there is a person capable of carrying forward the very black torch of Greek black metal with expertise and an apparently inexhaustible reserve of good musical solutions, it is the Greek musician.
Joining him in the new “Lakonic” is his longtime companion in this adventure Corax S. on percussion, Alexandros of Macabre Omen supporting voices, choirs and narrations, Noch on guitars, bass and finally the presence of Thanasis Kleopas on lyre, central in the sound and aesthetics of the group like the other instruments.
What is proposed in the forty-five minutes of the album is a 'Greek style' black metal of exquisite workmanship: we find the guitars that have characterized the entire scene since its birth, so full of epic nature and melodies as in the combo “Matter, Void, Sperm” /”Void, Matter, Sperm”, the sometimes cavernous and sometimes hissing voices of Stefan and Alexandros, belligerent drum patterns but also capable of evoking chthonic and Tartaresque scenarios. The motherland of the Thyrathen speaks with a powerful voice, clearly audible in “Η Πόλις – The City (The Philosophical Poem)” and “Religious Agonies”, through traditional instruments and those almost 'oracular' atmospheres, imbued with mystical energy and philosophical investigation (“De Rerum Natura”).
It's a shame that, despite moments full of pathos and intensity, the album lacks something to definitively take off, an extra spark of infernal energy to go from a 'good album' to one of the gems of the year: after many listens the songs neither bore nor they are poor in quality (indeed!), appearing slightly tarnished, as if the band had bitten off too much instead of running at full speed along the sharpest riffs, the Luciferian choruses, the more intimate passages connecting black metal and musical tradition Greek. And it's a bit of a shame, given the musicians involved and how much they've been capable of creating in the past, but looking also at the name of the album, at the vaguely hieratic and lyrically charged concept of the group, perhaps it's a reasoned decision on an artistic level; we will see if the project in the future will be able to unleash its true potential without any limits whatsoever, even in a dimension different from the 'usual' infernal bedlam.
“Lakonic” is still a good album, and if you are looking for Mediterranean flavors in the panorama of more sulphurous music, we are sure that it will stay in your stereos for a while.