![]() ![]() Hot on Death Courier’s heels were more musically accomplished death/thrashing masters Septicemia. Also worth mentioning is that a couple of the Death Courier guys helped out Varathron in their earliest days, hence the appearance of Theo and Bill on the Live At The Swamp demo another connection to the Greek black metal scene comes from Nigel playing briefly in Vomit, a short-lived band containing members that would go on to join bands like Varathron, Necromantia, and Sarcastic Terror. ![]() This would only grow more pronounced with the band’s Necrorgasm 7”, which despite still being rooted firmly in thrash showcased a lot more of the mid-paced chugging heavy metal riffs and leadwork of the Hellenic death metal sound. Much of the music was still primitive and raw death/thrash on their ‘80s demo material, but melodic leads, bouncing rhythms, and more somber parts would sometimes predict the birth of the scene. Though the band was younger, they were immediately playing death metal influenced music, and a lot of it sounded more like what you’d expect from Hellenic death metal. Despite little of it sounding like what we’ve come to expect from the Hellenic death metal scene, you can hear the first tinges of what would emerge just a few years later.Įven more extreme was the birth of Death Courier in 1987. By their third album, Summon The Dead, Flames was playing extreme and somewhat melodic thrash, thus paving the way for extreme music in Greece. One of the most important bands to the early scene was the mighty Flames, who formed playing speed metal before growing darker and darker with some of the first thrash and then early extreme metal to come out of Greece. Gothic’s fusion of doomy death metal with dark, ethereal melodies taken from ‘80s goth rock would serve as inspiration for the latter works of Septic Flesh/Horrified and many of the bands that came after them- this primer focuses on that ephemeral Greek styled death metal, and was co-written by myself and my friend Dan to introduce you lot to it.ĭespite a tendency for fans of the early Greek death metal scene to focus on the bands with that sound, the Greek scene actually started a few years earlier. However, the release of Paradise Lost’s iconic Gothic in 1991 would also prove to be a significant influence on the development of the Hellenic sound. In its genesis at the start of the ‘90s, both Septic Flesh and Horrified were starting to forge a very melodic and atmospheric take on the genre. Just as traditional heavy metal melodies were infused in Greece’s black metal, so too did were they born into Greek death metal. In contrast to their Northern peers, Hellenic Black Metal had a warmer, more occult sound deeply influenced by early heavy metal (for more information on the early/modern Hellenic scene, the following primer covers the bulk of the bands in the genre). As many black metal devotees will know, as the scene in Norway was taking off, the same was happening in Greece. The reverence for classic heavy metal would prove to be supremely important in the development of Greece’s own takes of other heavy metal subgenres. As recounted in a recent interview with Wrathblade and in this great blogpost about Greece’s fascination with heavy metal, the country remained a hotbed for traditional metal even during the style’s darkest days (mid-late 1990s). To any dedicated fan of underground metal, Greece undoubtedly stands as one of the most prolific and die hard countries in terms of output and fanatics. ![]()
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