Athos - Crossing the River of Charon (2008)

That Crossing the River of Charon comes off so vapid is a bit of a shame, as there are certain dressings to the album that actually feel rather unique. I'm primarily referring to the lyrics, many of which have been written in Greek, which is something one does usually not encounter even in the field of mythological themed black metal. But I also rather liked the intro, with its mix of high pitched choir synths and garbed, rasped incantations, and prayed that it might lead into one bulldozer of a fucking album. Instead, Kerveros has conceived a rather straightforward and monotonous affair which, neither execrable nor inspirational, drifts all too soon into the Lethe of the conscience, a middling effort which feels a bit too mechanical in its execution.

The drum machine is responsible for much of this, since it seems a bit too obvious in the mix, but the guitars and bass riffs also seem to loop well beyond their welcome in the majority of tracks, and they also take on a rather robotic, phoned in feeling throughout the title track, "Elysian Fields", "Persephone" and so forth. As evidence of just how much the ear hunts for some relief or contrast from the album's derivative structures, the various bridges and breakdowns stand out even farther than they normally should. For example, the synth/acoustic interlude in the title track after the 3 minute mark in the title track creates a welcome, mesmerizing calm that I did not want to let go of, or the escalating, melodic bridge in "Deep in Darkness". The problem is of course that these moments are greatly outnumbered, and while the various tremolo melodies are preformed competently, they and their blasted foundation feel pretty bland.

The production is pretty standard, with a thin but efficient guitar tone over the rattling of the machine beats, and a plodding but present bass tone. The rasps are actually not so bad: Kerveros is good at drawing out and intoning his native tongue into horrific howls, but then his style is really quite common for the genre, outside of the lyrical linguistics. If compared to the previous Athos record The Awakening of Athos, the style comes off quite level, but the songwriting here seems a bit too streamlined, monotonous and indistinct to capitalize on the mythological motifs that really could use some more metallic attention. Crossing the River of Charon is ultimately just another corpse-painted chip off the old block, formulaic and forgettable, tragic in that it could have been much, much more if the composition could live up to the admirable Hellenic vision.

Verdict: Indifference [5/10]

http://www.athosblackmetal.cjb.net/

Athos - The Awakening of Athos EP (2005)

The Awakening of Athos is a Greek rarity which was released in two separate incarnations: first as an EP in 2005 with six tracks, and later a full-length in 2007 with two additional tracks that the band had already recorded for a previous demo ("Nykta") and video ("The 300 Spartans"). For the sake of completion, I'm covering the whole shebang here, though I've placed it under the EP's header. Athos are another of those anomalous, one man projects without many ambitions to break the mold of the black metal genre, but the chops and competence to at least 'get it right', assuming its audience is not one to mind the lesser production standards.

Buzzing, tremolo picked patterns cast over a matrix of machine-like, emotionless blasting is the modus operandi here, with a vulture-like rasp breathing lyrics of Hellenic pride and spite for the Christian invaders who stomped out the pagan faiths of Europe in their incessant assimilation. For most of the metallic tracks, at least, Athos seems to move at a single pace of bleeding speed, and so "The Awakening of Athos", "A Tale of Christian Love", "Kerveros (Guardian of Hades)" and "In a Temple's Ruins" do develop into a numbing monotony, though several of these have cleaner breakdown passages which I assume are meant to curb the listener's tedium. I actually enjoyed the dark ambient intro "The Last Christian Ritual on Mount Athos" and the full-length album additions more than the original EP content.

"The 300 Spartans" is appreciably grimy and I enjoy the cheesy, epic bridge, and "Nykta" is unique in that it uses this basic programmed drum beat as if from some old keyboard, glazed in Cure-like Gothic keys and clean guitars with a snaking, distorted line that pairs itself with the grisly vocals. The latter is almost like a Gothic-pop-black hybrid, and while it's not likely to sate the fans of the bloodcurdling norm for this genre, it at least provides something fascinating beyond the confines of the expected. As a whole, The Awakening of Athos does not bring much novelty to the table, but its razor kissing melodies and tinny mix should might very well appeal to fans of albums like Ulver's Nattens Madrigal, though the Greek is nowhere near as noisy, understated or evocative.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10] (as the Aeolian winds proclaim)

http://www.athosblackmetal.cjb.net/