On August 20, 1993, Varathron released «His Majesty at the Swamp» through Cyber Music, their first full-length album. It is the work that gave Greek black metal a face of its own: more melodic and slower than the Scandinavian sound of the time, with weight, a dark atmosphere and themes built around the occult.
“`Country: Greece
Style: Black Metal
For fans of: Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Samael
The album came after a series of recordings: the demo «Procreation of the Unaltered Evil» in October 1989, «The Great Seal of Graal» in December of the same year and the EP «One Step Beyond Dreams» in 1990. On «His Majesty at the Swamp» you hear Necroabyssious on vocals, Themis of Rotting Christ on drums, Stavros on guitars and Jim Mutilator, also of Rotting Christ, on bass.
The sound moves at slower, more melodic paces, with guitars that build big themes instead of running. The title track, «Unholy Funeral», «Nightly Kingdoms» and «The Tressrising of Nyarlathotep» show where the Greek school of the genre started: less frozen than the north, more atmospheric and more epic.
It is an eight-track record recorded in Athens and since reissued several times, holding its place as a reference point for anyone who wants to understand how Greek black metal sounds at its roots.
The album came out the same year as Rotting Christ’s «Thy Mighty Contract» and Necromantia’s «Crossing the Fiery Path», and the three together set the mark of the first generation of Greek black metal. It is this trio of releases that made people talk about a distinct Greek sound within the genre.
Our take
Varathron’s first album stands beside the classics of the same year and explains why the band is considered one of the foundations of the Greek scene. It is not the fastest record of the genre, but it is among the most recognisable, and its style can still be heard in the band’s more recent work.
See also
Rotting Christ – Thy Mighty Contract · Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil.
Next: Walpurgisnacht · The tribute to Varathron’s 38 years.
