Tag Archives: thanatos

Album Review – Penthos / Erevos (2025)

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This Hellenic horde will darken the skies once again with their sophomore album, conceptually dealing with dark aspects of Greek mythology while sonically delivering Black Metal in the Scandinavian vein.

Having chosen the daimon of grief, despair, and sadness for their band’s name, Athens, Greece-based Black Metal horde Penthos will unleash hell once again armed with their sophomore offering, entitled Erevos (or έρεβος in Greek, which translated into English as “Erebus” literally means “darkness”), following up on their excellent 2022 self-titled debut. Consisting of nine bleak reveries drenched in murky atmosphere, the new opus by Apaisios on vocals and guitars, Vauban and JA also on the guitars, Zizka  on bass, and Algos on drums is an album which has traditional Black Metal written all over it. Regardless of the facts that they hail from Greece and the album conceptually deals with dark aspects of Greek mythology, Erevos doesn’t sound much Greek at all; rather than sonically following in the footsteps of Necromantia or Rotting Christ, the quintet chose to create Black Metal in the Scandinavian vein.

In ancient Greek, Nekyia (νέκυια) refered to a ritual or ceremony involving the evocation of the dead, often to gain knowledge or insight about the future, while in the album it’s an atmospheric and grim tune that works as an extended intro, haunting our souls before the band comes ripping with Dancing Dead, a lecture in old school Black Metal showcasing all elements we love in the genre, from the devilish gnarls by Apaisios to the visceral riffs by the band’s guitar trio, not to mention Algos’ obscure blast beats. Bloodstained Path is another blast of pure evil and darkness by such a talented horde, with the guitars by Apaisios, Vauban and JA sounding even heavier and more piercing, dragging us to the underworld together with them; followed by Όλεθρος (Olethros), which means “destruction”, “ruin”, or “perdition”, and can refer to both physical destruction and to spiritual ruin or death, carrying a connotation of the destruction necessary for renewal, but also implying a final, devastating end. Musically speaking, it’s just as infernal and visceral as its predecessors.

In Greek mythology, Thanatos is a figure who represents death, the son of Nyx (Night) and Erebos (Darkness), and the music couldn’t have sounded more demonic, with the Stygian, evil vocalizations by Apaisios exhaling Black Metal magic. Charon then offers six minutes of absolute darkness and chaos, with the classic blast beats and fills by Algos walking hand in hand with Zizka’s menacing bass while also presenting striking guitar lines and wicked solos for our total delight; followed by Lady in Black (Witch II), the most obscure song of the entire album hands down, with all band members transpiring pure Black Metal, in special Apaisios with his evil screams from the underworld. Echoes from the Sanatorium is another detailed, multi-layered fusion of classic Scandinavian Black Metal with their Greek twist, before the album ends with another demonic Black Metal attack entitled Forlorn Voyage, where their scathing riffs and rumbling bass and drums will pulverize your senses.

Listeners won’t find any anxious attempts at innovation on Erevos; instead, the album presents a professional studio production of over 40 minutes of well-composed Black Metal in the traditional way. Hence, go check what those ruthless Greek black metallers are up to on Facebook and on Instagram, stream their venomous music on Spotify, and of course put your damned hands on Erevos by purchasing it from the Darkness Shall Rise Productions’ BandCamp or webstore (in CD, LP, or cassette formats). Penthos are ready to spread their dark wings over the entire world of heavy music with their second black mass, opening the gates of hell to the sound of their Stygian arias and, consequently, bringing sheer doom and despair to our putrid hearts and souls in the name of classic Black Metal.

Best moments of the album: Dancing Dead, Thanatos and Lady in Black (Witch II).

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2025 Darkness Shall Rise Productions

Track listing
1. Nekyia 4:01
2. Dancing Dead 4:55
3. Bloodstained Path 3:58
4. Όλεθρος (Olethros) 3:48
5. Thanatos 3:59
6. Charon 6:01
7. Lady in Black (Witch II) 4:42
8. Echoes from the Sanatorium 5:32
9. Forlorn Voyage 3:20

Band members
Apaisios – vocals, guitars
Vauban – guitars
JA – guitars
Zizka – bass
Algos – drums

Album Review – Typhonian / The Gate of the Veiled Beyond (2024)

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This unrelenting German entity will crush your damned soul with their newborn spawn, a phenomenal journey rooted in the old school Death Metal sound.

Where most bands are content reveling in the sound of the glory days of early 90’s Death Metal, Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany-based band Typhonian has not only beautifully reimagined it with blackened elements laced with the classic Swedish and Finnish melodies, but they are also attempting to take that sound ahead in the most logical manner. Displaying a classic artwork by Juanjo Castellano Rosado, their new opus titled The Gate of the Veiled Beyond goes a step further compared to their 2021 EP The Cosmic Pendulum of Time and their debut album Beneath the Streams of Life, adding more progressive and atmospheric elements, a phenomenal music journey that’s evidently rooted in the old school Death Metal sound metamorphosing gradually and finally taking on a gleaming, breathtaking form and ascending, all carefully crafted by M. W. Styrum on vocals, Prometheus on the guitars, Typhon on the guitars and orchestrations, Charybdis on bass, and Thanatos on drums, being highly recommended for fans of Edge of Sanity, Unanimated, Necrophobic, Dismember, Desultory, Unleashed, and Evocation, among several others.

Just hit play and the atmospheric intro Celestial Salvation will transport us all to the dark world ruled by Typhonian before the band begins hammering our souls in Cosmic Throne, with the massive beats by Thanatos walking hand in hand with the powerful riffs by Prometheus and Typhon, not to mention how deep the guttural vocals by M. W. Styrum sound, flowing into the straightforward Death Metal attack titled Primal Deceptive Light, with the caustic riffage by the band’s guitar duo inviting us all to slam into the circle pit like true maniacs. Then bringing elements of Doom Metal to their sound, plus cryptic background orchestrations, the band fires the short and sweet Crimson Rivers, where once again M. W. Styrum sounds demonic on vocals; whereas another atmospheric, Stygian start gradually evolves into the heavy-as-hell, devilish aria The Gatekeeper, with Charybdis and Thanatos making the earth tremble with their respective bass and drums, also presenting elements from Atmospheric Black and Death Metal in their bold and dense sound.

Towards the Chamber of the Omnipresent Mind carries a beautiful name for a fast, acid and thunderous aria by Typhonian, with the guitars by Prometheus and Typhon exhaling heaviness and despair while M. W. Styrum keeps roaring and barking the song’s obscure words nonstop, and Typhonian brings forward a menacing fusion of Death Metal with Doom and Epic Metal entitled A Glimpse at the Starless Ocean, where Thanatos takes the lead with his crushing beats and fills, accompanied by the scorching riffs and solos by Prometheus and Typhon. Lastly, you better be prepared for a 20-minute ethereal, harsh and hypnotic musical voyage titled Cath’un – The Gate of the Veiled Beyond, flowing majestically to the demolishing drums by Thanatos before a sinister break permeates the air for quite some time, until all explodes into an imposing feast of Death Metal sounds, with M. W. Styrum’s vociferations adding an extra touch of insanity to their already wicked music, resulting in a stunning sonic beast by the quintet to conclude their infernal mass.

With the visionary The Gate of the Veiled Beyond release, Typhonian have more than just outdone themselves; they have surpassed expectations for the style as a whole. Hence, don’t forget to give them your best guttural shout on Facebook and on Instagram, to stream their music on Spotify, and of course, to purchase their imposing new album from their own BandCamp page, as well as from Transcending Obscurity Records (main store, BandCamp, EU store, and US store), or click HERE for all things Typhonian. Those talented German metallers are not your average Death Metal band, delivering a breathtaking amalgamation of styles that will leave you completely disoriented after all is said and done in The Gate of the Veiled Beyond, all in the name of first-class extreme music.

Best moments of the album: Primal Deceptive Light, Towards the Chamber of the Omnipresent Mind and Cath’un – The Gate of the Veiled Beyond.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2024 Transcending Obscurity Records

Track listing
1. Celestial Salvation 0:44
2. Cosmic Throne 4:06
3. Primal Deceptive Light 4:48
4. Crimson Rivers 3:35
5. The Gatekeeper 7:06
6. Towards the Chamber of the Omnipresent Mind 4:46
7. A Glimpse at the Starless Ocean 5:39
8. Cath’un – The Gate of the Veiled Beyond 19:21

Band members
M. W. Styrum – vocals
Prometheus – guitars
Typhon – guitars, orchestrations
Charybdis – bass
Thanatos – drums

Album Review – Skognatt / Ancient Wisdom (2018)

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An onrush of Atmospheric Black Metal as raw, aggressive, melodic and obscure as it can be, from the undergrounds of Bavaria directly into your mind.

Hailing from Augsburg, one of Germany’s oldest cities and the third-largest city in Bavaria (after Munich and Nuremberg), here comes a very sinister and interesting Atmospheric Black Metal/Dark Ambient one-man project named Skognatt, who have just unleashed darkness upon humanity with its first full-length album Ancient Wisdom. After its inception in 2016 by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Danijel Zambo, Skognatt released the demo Landscape of Ice in 2016, followed by the EP Stargazer that same year, and another EP in 2017 titled Ancient Wisdom (with the same name as the new album, but only featuring two songs that would be part of it). With the help of guest multi-instrumentalist Gerileme (Asche der Welten, Osteon) on drums and drum engineering, Skognatt brings forth six otherworldly compositions in Ancient Wisdom, living up to the legacy of old school Black Metal but with an atmospheric and eccentric twist added to its already somber musicality.

Macabre and phantasmagoric from the very beginning, the title-track Ancient Wisdom brings forward acoustic guitars intertwined with the sinister, demonic gnarls by Danijel, flowing smoothly and darkly until its ending, all boosted by creepy keyboard notes. Then the steady drumming by Gerileme and the lugubrious guitars by Danijel set the pace in Xibalbá, an Atmospheric Black Metal tune with hints of Symphonic Black Metal and Middle-Eastern nuances, with the vocals by Danijel sounding more devilish and anguished than before; followed by World Apart, showcasing blast beats and flammable guitar riffs (and therefore leaning towards traditional Black Metal), but also bringing a touch of delicacy and melancholy to the overall musicality through its very melodic and sometimes acoustic background sounds and tones.

More obscure than its predecessors, Thanatos alternates between melancholic, serene passages and more aggressive moments led by the piercing growls by Danijel, resulting in a Stygian hymn that can be used as the soundtrack to your deepest nightmares. As a matter of fact, Thanatos was the personification of death in Greek mythology, just to give you a sense of how dark this song is. Moving on with the album, Dark Star presents a movie-inspired intro before an explosion of demonic sounds fills the air, with Gerileme sounding even more infernal on drums in a hybrid of contemporary Ambient and Experimental Black Metal. Put differently, it can’t get any more underground, visceral and crude than this, being definitely not recommended for the lighthearted. And closing this somber and eccentric album we have another blast of Atmospheric Black Metal titled Fallen, spiced up by peculiar and whimsical sounds and featuring spoken words taken from the work of English nobleman and poet Lord Byron (1788 – 1824). Furthermore, Danijel does a great job both on keyboards and on vocals, enhancing the song’s already distinct taste until the music fades into a mesmerizing semi-acoustic outro.

In summary, Ancient Wisdom (which by the way is available for a full listen on YouTube) is one of those albums of extreme music that perfectly represent what underground metal is all about, being raw, aggressive, melodic and obscure, all at the same time. And in order to show your true support to an independent act like Skognatt, you can pay a visit to the band’s official Facebook page, and of course buy your copy of Ancient Wisdom from its BandCamp page, keeping the fires of Black Metal burning inside the dark soul of Mr. Danijel Zambo and his devilish alter ego Skognatt for years and years to come.

Best moments of the album: Xibalbá and Thanatos.

Worst moments of the album: None.

Released in 2018 Independent

Track listing
1. Ancient Wisdom 5:17
2. Xibalbá 5:09
3. World Apart 5:19
4. Thanatos 4:06
5. Dark Star 4:50
6. Fallen + Outro 6:44

Band members
Danijel Zambo – vocals, all instruments

Guest musician
Gerileme – drums