On August 15, 2009, Varathron released «Stygian Forces of Scorn» through Die Todesrune Records, a Spanish label. It was their fourth album and it came at a time when the band were finding a stable line-up and audience again, after their return to the stage in 2005.
“`Country: Greece
Style: Black Metal
For fans of: Rotting Christ, Necromantia, Samael
The album has eleven tracks, with «Behind the Mask», «Legions of Profane Wrath», «Dismal King» and «Sacred Ahlat» standing out. The sound returns to the more melodic and slower character of the first albums, with the keyboards and guitars giving a dark, epic atmosphere.
The production is cleaner than the albums of the 90s, without losing weight. The album was reissued later with refreshed artwork, holding its place among the works that brought the band into their new era.
It is the album that bridges the Ioannina years with the Agonia Records period, showing a band that had found its stride again.
Among the tracks, the slower, atmospheric passages also stand out, moving towards doom more than black metal. It is an album that shows the band keeping the style of their first period and at the same time updating it with cleaner production.
The tracks are mid-paced and slow, with the keyboards setting the dark tone and the guitars keeping the melodies in the foreground. It is the sound that made the band recognisable, here with cleaner production.
Our take
«Stygian Forces of Scorn» shows Varathron returning to the style that made them known, without copying their past. It is a record that stands firmly in their discography and explains why the band kept its audience for decades.
See also
Varathron – Patriarchs of Evil · Infernal Storm – Winter Of The Ancient Wrath.
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