THYRATHEN
Thanatopsis
(Ván Records)
60:28min

The Greek THYRATHEN don’t make it easy for those who want to listen to their first album “Thanatopsis”, as it starts off with a six minutes long intro piece. Which shouldn’t be a problem, but this one consists of some sparing drumming, flutes and a woman that tells something in the way of a market crier – in Greek! To me, it was not only hard to bear, it also lowered my expectations and the anticipation to listen to the songs to come – it is an album on Ván after all! But I’m glad that there is just one more, shorter interlude in the same style, so all in all there are 50 minutes left of really enjoyable atmospheric Black Metal. But since “Thanatopsis” seems to tell a whole concept story, maybe these two distressing spoken words are important. Yet the “real” music is, as I said, really enjoyable. Sometimes THYRATHEN reminded me of those Icelandic Black Metal bands like SINMARA, for example. Yet the Greeks are much more mid tempo based, focusing on a tangible atmosphere. And on the other hand, we have some folkloristic influences, especially Greek (thankfully no one is forced to dance the Sirtaki here), but also some oriental sounding moments are part of “Thantatopsis”. Somehow these moments remind me of very early MOONSPELL, when they were still a Black Metal band. Thus the sound THYRATHEN is rather elaborate, especially for a debut album. And songs like the rather old school based ‘Diarchy – United As One’ or the final hypnotic ‘Exodus – Catharsis’ are really worth listening. So go and check THYRATHEN out at www.facebook.com/thyrathen.band and don’t forget to visit their label as well: www.van-records.com

Thomas Meyer

Thomas Meyer

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